Ladies and Gentlemen, tomorrow will be a day of mourning for Spain.
A year ago, Madrid suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. Its pain seared all of Spain. Irrational violence proved itself capable of horrific destruction, its scars remain and will remain alive in our memories. Those responsible will pay for their atrocious crime with the full weight of the Law, because this is a country governed by the rule of Law and has serious, effective and independent Justice.
By honouring the victims of 11 March we will also honour the thousands of victims of terrorism in other cities in Spain and abroad, whom we cherish in our memories: New York City, Beslan, Casablanca, Bali and so many others all over the world; cities we are united with in grief and loss.
When we remember 11 March we must also highlight the lesson of the Spanish people, a lesson for the world and for History. Spaniards filled our country’s streets with pain and solidarity. Two days later, they filled the ballot boxes and showed us the way towards the defeat of terrorism, towards democracy and the strength of values. They did this a year ago, in the same way as they have been fighting terrorism for thirty years. It is this society, the Spanish people, which is and feels free and full of solidarity, that I want to honour today.
Victims of terrorism suffer at first hand an attack aimed at society as a whole. Therefore, we owe them an ongoing commitment to remembering, acknowledging and feeling solidarity. I particularly wish to thank all of you for coming to Madrid to express this solidarity with the victims and with the Spanish people as a whole, which reiterates the demonstrations of affection and support we were given a year ago.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We meet here, at this International Summit on Democracy and Terrorism, to find answers to global terrorism: serene answers, complex answers and answers that can be shared, answers that can only be found in the values that have dignified life in common, freedom, respect for human rights, fair relations between peoples, shared progress, cooperation and solidarity.
Terrorism seeks to impose ideas by violence and attacks upon democracy, but other problems also weaken democracy, make it impossible or harm it beyond repair: poverty, exclusion, alienation, degradation and intolerance. Security, everybody’s security, is based on respect for values and the commitment to resolve these problems.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
No cause whatsoever can justify terrorism. Let’s say this loud and clear. No idea, no matter how legitimate, can be used as an alibi for random killing. In terror there is only infamy and barbarity, in terror there are no politics, in terror there is no ideology, in terror there is no resistance, in terror there is no combat, in terror there is only emptiness, the emptiness of uselessness, because terror never achieves its goals. Killing to defend an idea is only killing, it is not defending an idea. There may be conflicts, but only political action can resolve them; never the action of terror. Terror aggravates conflicts and makes solutions impossible.
Terrorism is the absolute denial of the values that support human dignity. Thus, we cannot link this phenomenon to any specific civilization, culture or religion. We would be seriously mistaken if we believed that behind international terrorism there were a new ideological division, a clash of civilizations that makes whole societies or communities suspect as accomplices.
History proves that terrorism has been used to support different ideologies or religious creeds. It is not, therefore, a trait of any ideology, of any religion. Nevertheless, some reductionist views locate terrorism in a predominant place within a radical and fanatical view of a religion that is a distinctive feature of many countries and of many peoples. This is a serious mistake that only leads to misunderstanding between cultures in the International Community and misunderstanding is the first step towards separation; separation opens up the temptation to hate, and hate is the doorway to violence.
This is why last month I proposed before the United Nations General Assembly an Alliance of Civilizations based on knowledge, comprehension and mutual respect. The interest aroused by this proposal, the different expressions of support it has received and the level of specification it has reached prove that the International Community as a whole is fully aware of the need to act in order to bridge the gap that has opened wide between the Western and Islamic worlds. We cannot remain inactive, watching the gap become even wider.
The idea of having the United Nations Secretary General form a High-Level Group has become consolidated. Its mandate must be clear and precise, encompassing the study of the factors that have generated the international breach and drawing up specific proposals by which the United Nations can contribute effective solutions to the current situation. Our shared purpose is to set up, within the United Nations, a common action plan including measures that will contribute to bringing civilizations closer in the spheres of politics, culture, economy and security.
To defeat terrorism we must also make a considerable effort to comprehend the threat, to analyse and reflect upon the conditions that enable fanaticism to spread and provide support for the strategy of terror.´
We cannot ignore the tremendous economic, political and social fractures that affect many societies, and which on occasion serve as a pretext or rationalisation for terrorist violence. Extreme poverty, social exclusion, lack of education, a State that does not function as such, these are all factors that provide a rich breeding ground in which terrorism can take root. We cannot aspire to peace and security within an ocean of universal injustice. We must, therefore, work together with firm resolve to overcome these shortcomings and fractures within society.
The fight against terrorism requires us to strengthen the legitimacy of our efforts by developing a shield of moral, intellectual and legal integrity and by the effectiveness of our security forces. Every State is obliged to protect its citizens from terrorism, but it must do so without betraying the principles of democracy and it must preserve our inalienable rights and freedoms. Let us never forget the late Sergio Vieira de Melo, who was brutally murdered in Baghdad, and remember that the best, indeed, the only strategy to isolate and defeat terrorism is founded on respect for human rights, the furthering of social justice, the promotion of democracy and the supremacy of the Rule of Law.
We all know terrorism is a global threat that requires – and we must make this very clear – a global response. It is also a strategic threat that seeks to impose a new political agenda by force. To overcome terrorism, the international community needs to forge a political consensus, with the utmost urgency, and put its differences to one side; it must analyse the threat in all its complexity and address all the dimensions, not just that of security, but also political, economic, social and cultural aspects.
This consensus must be based upon the pillars of effective multilateralism, international cooperation and the defence of legality and human rights; furthermore, respect for these pillars makes our efforts much more effective. We must set out a plan for global, strategic action by the international community to reinforce our capability to fight against terrorism, whilst granting the United Nations the central role of leadership that corresponds to this organisation.
With this in mind, I thank the Secretary General of the United Nations for his resolution and determination in undertaking the responsibility of turning the organisation of which we all form a part into the motor driving our joint enterprise. I am particularly grateful to him for having decided upon Madrid, on this very special date, as the venue in which to advance us his view of the global strategy against terrorism.
I hope his words will create the necessary momentum to enable the
international legality of this fight against the common threat to be consolidated and completed. Specifically, the international community must conclude, as soon as possible, the Convention against Nuclear Terrorism and the Global Convention against Terrorism, adopting a general definition, accepted by all, of the phenomenon. We must also strengthen the institutional framework of the United Nations to enable it to lead this struggle more effectively.
In this respect, it would be very helpful to establish an international fund to provide economic assistance to States with fewer resources, such that these would be able to fulfil their international obligations against terrorism. It would also be an extremely positive development to create an international compensation fund for the victims of terrorism, who should be offered all our attention, solidarity and support.
The United Nations, furthermore, must coordinate and complement the efforts made to improve international cooperation against terrorism. This must be achieved both in a bilateral sense and within the relevant regional organisations.
We must reinforce the mechanism of operational cooperation between States in the political, judicial and intelligence spheres in order to prevent new attacks, to isolate and surround the terrorist organisations and those who support, finance and justify them. There must be more and better sharing of information in order to fight effectively against the funding of terrorism, to guarantee the security of international trade and to protect infrastructures.
Moreover, it is absolutely fundamental to ensure the tireless commitment of civil society to work for a culture of tolerance, dialogue and mutual understanding, in order to defeat those who seek to perpetuate intolerance.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to congratulate Club de Madrid for calling this Summit, which I am convinced will be remembered as the expression of solidarity with the victims of terror, for the strengthening of our commitment to the defence of freedom and the Law and for the unity and firmness shown in the face of terrorism. In the face of all forms of terrorism, because none of them can have any kind of excuse, impunity or refuge.
The participation of so many dignitaries and representatives of civil society from all over the world is an expression of their feeling for Spain in its moment of pain; but, moreover, the efforts of representatives and experts from so many countries, religions and different outlooks also nourishes our hope that, together, we may be capable of finding democratic responses and solutions in order to defeat terrorism.
The memory of 11 March may lead us to despair, but we must raise our heads and look ahead in these early days of the 21st Century, because today there are more democracies in the world than ever before. In today’s international order, we are not building walls, but processes of political and economic union. More citizens of the world than ever before are working for peace, and societies and their citizens are demanding an end to poverty, misery and marginalisation.
Let us accelerate the decisions that will lead us towards a fairer, safer world; let there be more democracies in the world, achieved by political pressure, reasoning and patience; let us strengthen the United Nations, multilateralism and the international rule of law; let us fulfil the Millennium Goals for the eradication of poverty and misery; let us defend the principle of the peaceful solution of conflicts; let us set into action an Alliance of Civilizations; let us increase our security by sharing legal models, by the effective, sincere collaboration of police forces and intelligence services; let us apply coherence and all possible vigour in our fight against terrorism, and in the name of this vigour and coherence, let us indefatigably pursue, within and beyond national frontiers, the trafficking of the arms and explosives that are used to sow terror, to impose the rule of the strongest, beyond the rule of law.
Let us banish hypocrisy; this, too, is a prime objective if we are to be victorious in the fight against terror.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This Summit is entitled “Democracy, Terrorism and Security”. Terrorism cannot act against democracy. Democracy is the defeat of terrorism. The more and better the democracy, the more freedom, justice, equality and peace, the less terrorism there will be, until it disappears altogether.
Humankind has achieved more difficult feats throughout history and has done so when the great humanity we all harbour has been put at the service of the noblest causes. The cause that has brought us here today is a noble one. Nothing will make us forget the victims of terror or the victims of despair. Their families will never receive enough consolation. But the lives of every one of us, also the stolen lives, make sense in collective life, in the lives of others. Today, 1,200 babies will be born in Spain, and 180,000 in the whole world. We will think of them. Our lives are intertwined in their lives. Their lives carry our lives and those new lives are entitled to a fair and secure world. Loyalty to ourselves demands that we achieve this.
Thank you very much.
