New York: Stressing that there is no justification for terrorism under any circumstance, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on September 22 that the scourge will be defeated only if "we act to solve the political disputes and long standing conflicts which generate support for it".

To win the war against terrorism, there must be the promise of a better and fairer world and concrete plan to get there.

However, "we must never, in the fight against terrorism, lower our standards to theirs. States, therefore, need to ensure that, in fighting terrorists, they respect the limits, which international humanitarian law places on the use of force. The failure to do so can erode our shared values," he told a conference on "Fighting Terrorism for Humanity".

The terrorist groups, he said, might actually be sustained when, in responding to their outrages, the governments cross the line and commit outrages. The indiscriminate bombing of cities, the torture of prisoners, targeting killings and accepting the death of innocent civilians "collateral damage" are "illegal and unjustifiable".

"They may also be exploited by terrorists to gain new followers, and to generate cycle of violence in which they thrive," he warned.

Cautioning against trade-off between human rights and terrorism, Annan stressed that upholding human rights is not at odds with battling terrorism. On the contrary, "the moral vision of human rights – the deep respect for dignity of each person – is among most powerful weapons against it.

"To compromise on the protection of human rights would hand terrorists victory they cannot achieve otherwise. The promotion and protection of human rights as well as the strict observance of international humanitarian law, should, therefore, be at the centre of anti-terrorism strategies," he told the conference.

Stressing that terrorism is an evil with which there can be no compromise, he said the rage the world feels at the terrorist attacks must not remove its ability to reason.

"If we are to defeat terrorism, it is our duty, and indeed our interest, to try to understand this deadly phenomenon and carefully to examine what works and what does not, in fighting it."

PTI