Envoy calls on world to jointly fight terrorism

The global community should work together to promote multilateralism and international cooperation, and enhance the ability to respond to terrorism and extremism as well as to protect human rights, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Thursday.

Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to the United Nations at Geneva, urged the pursuit of a community with a shared future for mankind and called on the global community to actively implement the UN global counterterrorism strategy during an online seminar on counterterrorism, deradicalization, and human rights protection.

"Terrorism and extremism severely undermine international and regional peace and stability, and severely violate all human rights," Chen said, adding that since the beginning of this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new risks and challenges to the global fight against terrorism and radicalization.

The Chinese envoy said that the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region used to suffer from violent terrorism, national separatism and religious extremism. Thousands of violent terrorist attacks had been carried out in Xinjiang, which seriously threatened people's lives and social stability.

"Xinjiang puts the protection of the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups first. It has adopted a series of counterterrorism and deradicalization measures in accordance with the law," he said, adding that these preventive measures have effectively curbed the frequency of terrorist activities and protected the human rights of all ethnic groups.

"These measures are in full compliance with the requirements of the UN global counterterrorism strategy and the action plan to prevent violent extremism, and have achieved positive results," he said.

Chen said Xinjiang has been free from terrorist violence for nearly four years. "The measures taken in Xinjiang have made important contributions to global anti-terrorism and deradicalization efforts and provided valuable experience," he added.

The virtual seminar was sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN Office at Geneva, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cameroon to the UN Office at Geneva and the China Society for Human Rights Studies, and was organized by Jinan University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Salomon Eheth, permanent representative of Cameroon to the UN Office at Geneva, said that extremism and terrorism are the common enemies of all countries and regions in the world, so the protection of human rights is an essential task for every government.

Fan Juanrong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing challenges to the world's anti-terrorism efforts, as some countries with weaker governance capacity are facing the dual threat of contagion and terrorism.

She called on all countries to actively explore effective measures to eliminate extremism and strengthen global cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

Xinhua contributed to this story.