Juan Ignacio Zoido highlights the need for UNESCO to "start work on drafting the International Legal Statute on Victims of Terrorism"

At the UNESCO meeting, Juan Ignacio Zoido gave a speech in which he claimed there was a need to "start work now on drafting the International Legal Statute on Victims of Terrorism, within the framework of the United Nations, which regulates a raft of victims' rights and international obligations on States". In his opinion, this statute will amount to a global commitment to the principles of memory, dignity, justice and truth. "To achieve this, I can offer the experience and vision of the Spanish State institutions and civil society, principally of the associations and foundations of Spanish victims of terrorism", he stated.

The Minister for Home Affairs stated that a "wonderful" document on which to base the International Legal Statute on Victims of Terrorism would be the draft European Charter on Rights of Victims of Terrorism, which Spain presented to Dimitris Avramópulos, the current European Commissioner for Migration, Internal Affairs and Citizenship on 13 December 2015.

In his speech, the Minister for Home Affairs also proposed, in coordination with the European Union or the Council of Europe, the setting up of a network of authorities or administrative units that are competent in each country to offer assistance to victims, to coordinate information and care for victims when those affected are of different nationalities, which is often the case.

"We firmly believe that if we all play our part then this network could be set up in the first quarter of this year, once the different countries identify the relevant national authorities that are going to act as a contact point and prepare the complete information on the rights and compensation recognised to victims of terrorism in their respective States, as well as the procedure to apply for this", he underlined.

After stating that the commitment to victims of terrorism is one of the main reasons for his vocation to public service, Juan Ignacio Zoido highlighted that "these important steps must be taken as soon as possible in order to continue making progress on supporting and acknowledging victims of terrorism, who are the martyrs of our democratic system of rights and liberties, and I would even dare to say, the heroes of our democracy".

Leading role in conveying the true course of events

At the UNESCO forum, the Minister for Home Affairs, who highlighted that the memory of victims and our accompaniment of them are "essential weapons" in combating terrorism, explained the goals behind the Government of Spain backing the creation of the Centre for the Memory of the Victims of Terrorism in 2015, with headquarters in Vitoria and Madrid. He remarked that "its goals are to preserve and spread the democratic and ethical values that embody victims of terrorism, to build a collective memory of the victims and to raise awareness among all citizens to defend liberty and human rights and to combat terrorism".

Against this backdrop, Juan Ignacio Zoido underlined that victims "play a leading role in conveying the true course of events and in preventing radicalisation, since their testimonies have great potential to make people more sensitive and they have a strong educational impact". "It is vitally important to set out the facts as they occurred, without omissions, without false shared responsibilities or bias, so that society is aware of and remembers the reality without being swayed by partial interpretations", he added. We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by the wilful perversion of language and the manipulation of words by those who seek to call things by another name with the malicious goal of justification in a cruel and false attempt to make us believe that there is no right and wrong in the story, because no-one can erase the fact that innocent people have been vilely murdered in cold blood".

The Minister for Home Affairs, who recalled that Spain has not only suffered at the hands of ETA terrorism but also of Jihadist terrorism, highlighted at the UNESCO forum that the Spanish model to protect and assist the victims of terrorism is an international benchmark. That is not a personal claim, but one made by the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, who said that "Spain is a model of support for and solidarity with the victims of terrorism". He also recalled that the Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations Security Council, Jean Paul Laborde, stated in 2012 that "the Spanish model is the benchmark for the permanent Member States of the Security Council, as well as being the most advanced from among the Member States of the United Nations".