For information only - not an official document

UNIS/VIC/183
12 September 2011

Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the 11 September Attacks United Nations Vienna Office Honours Victims of Terrorism

VIENNA, 12 September (UN Information Service) - All the victims of terrorism worldwide are being remembered in a special event at the United Nations in Vienna today. The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna Yury Fedotov joined the United States Permanent Representative Ambassador Glyn Davies in a special ceremony to commemorate the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 which killed more than 2,800 people from over 70 different countries.

Speaking at the event co-hosted by the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) and the United States Permanent Mission, Mr. Fedotov said that the terrorists who carried out the "senseless, criminal" attacks on the United States that day did not succeed in destroying the common bonds of humanity - on the contrary, they made them stronger. "All countries, all peoples were united in their condemnation of this atrocity," he said. "We are all united by our common rejection of terrorism which finds no sanctuary in any nationality, any religion nor any legitimate political philosophy."

Mr. Fedotov who is also Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) honoured the memory of all the victims of terrorism everywhere including the 23 people killed and many more injured in the recent bombing of the United Nations office in Abuja, Nigeria. Eleven of those killed were UN colleagues.

The atrocities of September 11 th 2001 led to a new resolution in the United Nations against those who commit terrorist acts. In 2006 this led to all Member States adopting through the General Assembly the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy which provides a blueprint for the international community to prevent and combat terrorism. The strategy is built on four pillars to provide a comprehensive response to the threat of terrorism: a) tackling the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; b) preventing and combating terrorism; c) building States' capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and strengthening the role of the United Nations system in that regard; and d) ensuring respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis for the fight against terrorism. It also includes a commitment on the part of countries to promote international solidarity in support of victims of terrorism.

While the implementation of the strategy is primarily the responsibility of the Member States, the United Nations has been assisting countries in their work through the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) which brings together more than 30 programmes, offices, agencies, departments within the UN system.

In Vienna UNODC's Terrorism Prevention Branch has, since 2003, assisted close to 170 countries to ratify and implement the legal instruments against terrorism and by doing so promotes a rule of law based approach to counter-terrorism. There are 16 universal counter-terrorism legal instruments that define and criminalize specific acts of terrorism and serve as tools for prevention, extradition and mutual legal assistance.

As terrorist acts continue to be a serious threat to peace and security around the world, Mr. Fedotov stressed that more needs to be done to combat this global scourge, especially through enhanced international cooperation and exchange of information. He also drew attention to the links between terrorism and trans-national organized crime with criminal profits increasingly finding their way to support terrorism.

* *** *

For more information please contact:

Anne Thomas
Information Officer, UNIS Vienna
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-5588
Mobile: (+43) 699-1459-5588
Email: anne.thomas[at]unvienna.org
Website: www.unis.unvienna.org