Guterres to convene counter-terrorism summit, calls for united action

Calling for united global action against terrorism, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced that he is convening a summit of heads of counter-terrorism agencies.

"In June, I will convene a Summit of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies to advance multilateral cooperation in this vital struggle," Guterres told the General Assembly on Tuesday while outlining his priorities for the year.

"Terrorism needs globally coordinated responses to defeat it," he said. "in preventing and combating terrorism we should be both tough and smart."

For this, "we must avoid approaches that feed the grievances and narratives that may generate the very violence we seek to eliminate," he added.

He said that promoting peace in countries like Afghanistan would advance the fight against the terrorism that go beyond their borders.

Guterres sounded the alarm on peackeeping, a matter of great importance to India, which currently has more than 6,600 personnel deployed in UN operations."Peacekeeping is facing unprecedented challenges," he said.

"Many times ill-equipped, our peacekeepers are now deliberately targeted," he said. "This situation is not sustainable. It is time to sound an alarm."

He said that he was determined to see that peacekpeeing improves to protect both the peacekeepers and the people they serve and for this a detailed plan of action is being prepared by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Overall, Guterres painted a bleak picture of the world, saying that conflicts have deepened and "anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War."

In the past year, "the world has gone in reverse" as new dangers have emerged and progress has slidm back, he said.

Climate change was was worsening, while xenophobia and racism were on the rise, he warned.

"To me, these are all indications that we need greater unity and courage - unity and courage to meet today's most urgent needs, to ease the fears of the people we serve and set the world on track towards a better future," he said.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

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