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ForMin Aurescu took part in a conference of Madrid Club

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu took part in a conference of Madrid Club as the main speaker on Wednesday, when he presented alongside his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo the initiative of setting up an International Court against Terrorism. 

According to a Foreign Ministry release, Aurescu presented the values and principles lying at the foundation of the Romanian-Spanish initiative - the use of international criminal law and the rule-of-law concept at an international level in the fight against terrorism - in an address to the '2015 Policy Dialogue Madrid+10: The Prevention and Countering Violent Extremism' conference. 

"We are here today, ten years since the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security held in Madrid and since the adoption of Madrid Agenda, which at that moment was a crucial call to action and democratic reaction to the global threat of terrorism, immediately after the shock of the Madrid attacks in 2004. There were 191 innocent people who lost their lives then, 16 Romanians among them. The recommendations of Madrid Agenda are fully applicable today as they were then: the heads of states and governments called for immediate measures for the adoption of a recognised definition of terrorism and the ratification and implementation of all the conventions on combating terrorism. We consider that the Romanian-Spanish initiative of setting up an International Court against Terrorism can make a significant contribution to attaining these goals", the minister said. 

Aurescu also cited a range of historical arguments for setting up such a Court, thus underscoring the special contribution made by Romanian legal expert and diplomat Vespasian Pella in the drawing up and adoption in 1937 of two relevant international conventions: the Convention for the prevention and punishment of terrorism and the one on setting up an International Criminal Court. 

"The creation of such an international court could have a preventive and deterring effect for the perpetrators and notably for the states that could be safe havens for such persons or organised terrorist groups. Anyway, it is not the only argument that has guided us in launching this idea. The adoption of an instrument based on the international criminal law that would help the fight against terrorism by legal means will equally strengthen the idea that a global threat such as terrorism needs a global action based on law (...) This initiative could also contribute to triggering constructive debates that should lead to developments on the international law, beyond the immediate objective of creating such a Court", Aurescu explained. 

The Spanish foreign minister, in an address, mentioned the fine co-working between Romania and Spain for the promotion of this initiative and drew attention to the need of the existence of a political will at the level of the international community to combat terrorism by the means made available by international law. 

"Also speaking at the debate was Jean-Paul Laborde, the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General and executive director of the U.N. Committee for Combating Terrorism, who voiced support for the initiative", the release said.



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