Poverty, social exclusion and US/NATO foreign intervention are terrorism’s root causes

 

Intervention of AKEL-Left-New Forces MP Aristos Damianou at the special meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean

9th October 2015

The AKEL- Left-New Forces Member of the House of Representatives Aristos Damianou participated in a parliamentary delegation of the Cyprus parliament in a special session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) in Bucharest, on the subject “Challenges posed by a preventative criminal justice response to terrorism and to Foreign Terrorist Fighters”.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou in his intervention in a discussion on the role of national parliaments in the efforts to combat terrorism, said the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus has adopted a relevant national legislation, which incorporates the European Parliament’s Framework of Decisions. The House has also ratified all the relevant international conventions, while the Republic of Cyprus is cooperating fully with all the relevant international bodies.

A. Damianou stressed that in the difficult task of preventing potential terrorist acts the national parliaments must be vigilant and revise where necessary, the existing legal framework in order to safeguard human rights and to ensure the functioning of state based on the rule of law. Finally, A. Damianou stressed the need to address the root causes of terrorism and “foreign fighters”, such as poverty, social exclusion and the ongoing foreign interventions in the internal affairs of sovereign states, particularly from the US and NATO.