UAE diplomatic initiative to counter extremism

DAESH ABDUCTIONS ADD TO FEARS AMONG MINORITIES IN SYRIA, IRAQ

The UAE has announced at the UN Security Council that it intends to launch a new diplomatic initiative to build international cooperation and facilitate dialogue through a ‘‘contact group on countering extremism’’.

Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in an address to the Council, offered some suggestions for strengthening the UN to deal with the range of complex and evolving challenges that exist today. First, the Security Council should increase its consultation and coordination with concerned states to prevent conflict, he said.

This would make the Council more effective and ensure that the full range of perspectives of those countries most affected was considered.

Second, Dr Gargash called for greater involvement and support for regional organisations, as stipulated in Chapter 8 of the Charter. Their role as essential components of the international security system must be utilised and supported by the Security Council. Third, he highlighted the human cost of protracted international inaction. The initiative coincided with the kidnapping of scores of Assyrians in northeastern Syria on Monday by the Daesh terrorist group.

The mass abduction added to fears among religious minorities in both Syria and Iraq, who have been repeatedly targeted by Daesh. During the group’s bloody campaign in both countries, minorities have been repeatedly targeted and killed, driven from their homes, had their women enslaved and places of worship destroyed.

Daesh terrorists have abducted at least 150 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria they had raided on Tuesday. A Syrian Christian group representing several NGOs inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and the elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants.