UN Calls for Comprehensive Approach in Fighting Terrorism
The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar, will chair today an open debate of the Security Council devoted to the need for a comprehensive approach to combating terrorism.
The topic was proposed by the permanent representation of the Asian country to the UN that this month holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member body and responsible for fpeace and security.
For the discussion, the Pakistani delegation presented a conceptual document that analyzes different angles of the problem, including the financing of terrorism, the UN strategy to face it and the link between development and security as part of the solution.
The paper argues that the experiences of the last decade show that you can not defeat terrorism only by military means and measures of repression and pointed out the need for a more comprehensive and creative approach in that fight.
Regarding the financing of this scourge, it stresses the importance of preventing terrorists from misusing entities with no profit motive and to combat drug trafficking as a significant source of funds for various terrorist groups.
The document also refers to the conditions that are conducive to the spread of terrorism, such as long lasting conflicts, the absence of a state of rights, human rights violations, political exclusion and socio-economic marginalization.
And emphasizes the need to provide assistance and support to the victims and their families to overcome their misfortune.
On the other hand, it insists that security-development relationship is part of politics in the fight against terrorism, as elements that reinforce each other and should be subject to thorough scrutiny.
Singapore Parliament Led for First Time by a Woman
Singapore now has its first female president of parliament in the history of the Southeast Asian country, Halimah Yacob, following the resignation from the office by her predecessor, Michael Palmer.
The 58-year-old woman was chosen by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) as the winning candidate in the last hours among the options considered by the legislature.
Her candidacy was presented by Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong, who praised Yacob for her ‘practical and compassionate voice that helped create more humane policy’ as Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports.
Originally Malay, Yacob became involved in social movements in the country to finish her law studies in 1978, and has contributed to the development of her community, the second largest in Singapore, with 14 percent of the 4,000,500 inhabitants.
She was Deputy General Secretary of NTUC, and a member of the board of the International Labor Organization between 2000 and 2005.
Palmer, her predecessor, resigned in mid-December after acknowledging an extramarital affair as ‘inappropriate’ conduct and a ‘serious mistake,’ and to avoid further embarrassment to the ruling PAP.
Chilean House of Deputies to Analyze Conflict in Araucania
The Chilean House of Deputies will meet on Tuesday in a special session to analyze the wave of arsons in the Araucania region, as the government tries to speed up the legislative approval of a controversial draft bill against hooded men.
Parliamentary sources said that Tuesday’s meeting aims to deal with medium- and long-term solutions to the conflicts in the region, which is over 600 kilometers south of this capital.
The meeting, also to be attended by Ministers Andrés Chadwick (Interior) and Joaquín Lavín (Social Development) aims to create a real debate and to build confidence, according to Lawmaker Ricardo Rincón. Local media reported that the Lower House’s Intelligence Committee summoned the director of the National Intelligence Agency, Gonzalo Yuseff, and the chiefs of intelligence of the Carabineers and the Investigation Police for the same day.
After a case of arson on January 4, when a couple of landowners were killed, the government announced a plan to increase surveillance in the region, and typified the actions against landowners’ properties as terrorist acts.
Although the leaders of political parties and human rights organizations disagree that such acts are carried out by terrorists, the government insists that such cells exist and even have links outside Chilean borders.
Groups of Mapuche indigenous people, who have engaged in historic demands for land denied any links with the arsons over the past few days, and considered that the perpetrators can be “rightwing infiltrators”
Via PL