Strasbourg, 28/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the report by British Labour member Terry Davis, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe affirms that the international community should give all the support it can to the government of the United States in response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September, with a view to bringing the terrorists and those orchestrating the attacks to justice. It stresses, however, that any action should be conducted "according to international law and with the agreement of the United Nations Security Council", and should not turn into "hasty revenge". The Assembly makes it clear that nothing can justify terrorism but that "long-term prevention of terrorism means the appropriate understanding of its social, economic, political and religious origins". It proposes to enlarge the mandate of the future International Criminal Court so that it may cover terrorist acts. It also calls on the governments of the 43 Council of Europe member states to set in place economic measures against the countries that grant asylum to terrorists. Member States are invited to focus their efforts on the identification and the seizure of funds used for terrorist purposes and to allow the authorities responsible for investigating international crime and terrorism access to the bank accounts concerned. The Assembly also calls on the European States to abstain from taking measures to restrict freedom of movement and access to asylum, in reaction to the terrorist attacks.
During the debate, Mr Davis had warned that international solidarity must not transform the international community into an international lynching campaign. Our anger and our fears must not mean that we betray our values, he said.