Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation takes part in Global Counter-Terrorism Forum

In July, the Special Meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Security Council was held in Madrid to search for formulas for restricting the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, at which the Madrid Guide and Principles (Madrid GPS) and the Declaration of Madrid-El Pardo were approved in order to tackle this problem.

In his speech, Minister García-Margallo highlighted the importance of this multilateral forum, which was set up in 2011, with the aim of exchanging recommendations and best practices in the fight against terrorism by creating a highly useful and effective international cooperation tool in terms of technical assistance. To this end Spain has supported this forum since its creation and has implemented the measures agreed by this forum.

The minister pointed to the need to involve all players in this fight and, in particular, referred to the necessary participation of victims to help build an effective counter-narrative that contributes to de-legitimising those arguments that protect or in some way justify violence. José Manuel García-Margallo recalled that our country will organise a meeting in New York with victims of terrorism to discuss this issue during the Spanish Presidency of the Security Council, which starts in October.

EFEJosé Manuel García-Margallo also insisted on the need to tackle the roots of the problem through the adoption of measures that serve to prevent terrorist violence, such as the creation of the discourse that religion is the language of peace (which Spain has been fostering through the KAICIID) and care for the basic needs of people and combating poverty. The minister concluded his speech by recalling the Spanish proposal (together with Romania) to set up an International Counter-Terrorism Court to avoid terrorist crimes not covered by the International Criminal Court going unpunished.

At Sunday's summit, certain initiatives were approved, actively supported by Spain, such as the international mechanism to exchange information on the fight against terrorism, the fight against radicalisation and violent extremism; the document on the "Cycle of Radicalisation towards Violence", that proposes establishing a coordinated programme to interlink the activities of the various Work Groups of the Global Forum on the issue of the fight against radicalisation and violent extremism; the document relating to women and radicalism, which tackles the role that women can play in the fight against processes of violent extremism, as well as the annex to the Algiers Memorandum on good practices to avoid paying out ransoms in the case of kidnappings.