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 REACHING PEACE FOR YOUTH AND CITIES |
| Ten Points
on TERRORISM • The United Nations defines terrorism as a unique form of crime often containing elements of warfare, politics and propaganda. Victims of terrorism often include innocent civilians. • The UN further notes that “while the issues behind terrorism are usually national or regional, the impact of terrorist campaigns is often international. Their form of psychological warfare is ‘propaganda by deed.’” • The United Nations has adopted a total of 12 conventions and protocols on terrorism (see http://www.un.org/terrorism/). In 1999, the UN launched its Terrorism prevention Branch, an arm of the Vienna-based Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. • New technologies in communication contribute to terrorism as a “globalized phenomenon,” the UN reports. • Concern over acts of terrorism has magnified since a 1960s series of plane hijackings and the 1972 Munich Olympic games, during which athletes were taken hostage. • Racial and religious profiling and other similar stereotyping in relation to terrorism can lead to further violence and strife. • Amid the modern threats and experiences of terrorism, a positive approach to living one’s life “as normally as possible” is psychologically and in practice preferable to immobilization by a mindset of fear. • Nevertheless, caution must be exercised during travel, especially to sites targeted by terrorists. • Mental health can be aided by exercising discretion in watching news reports, movies and other visual accounts depicting graphic acts of violence. Sometimes the TV is better turned off. • Children can be cared for by calming their fears, by reassuring them of the safety at home and at school, by explaining in basic language the rationale behind a terrorist act. |
“We are all determined to
fight terrorism and to do our utmost to banish it from the face of the
earth. But the force we use to fight it should always be proportional and
focused on the actual terrorists. We cannot and must not fight them by using
their own methods—by inflicting indiscriminate violence and terror on
innocent civilians, including children. —Kofi Annan UN Secretary General November 18, 1999 “We must wage reconciliation, not retaliation.” —Bishop J. Jon Bruno September 11, 2001 RESOURCES: Oklahoma City National Memorial for the Prevention
of Terrorism Terrorism Research Center
‘Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of
mankind. it is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by
the ingenuity of man.” |
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Violence Prevention Guide
Domestic
Violence
Child Abuse
Sexual
Assault |
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