First International Roundtable on Constructing Peace, Deconstructing Terror

19-20 June
New Delhi

The Delhi Declaration on Sustainable Global Security June 20, 2004

Preamble

A group of 30 eminent scholars and practitioners met in New Delhi on 19-20 June 2004 as individuals who are concerned about the prospects of peace and threats to the security of the world. The group believes that its collective deliberations have created a shared premise about some approaches to constructing peace and deconstructing terror. The group believes that it was privileged to meet in New Delhi, India, since India represents democratic values, tolerance, plurality and humanism. The group had extensive discussions on the issues of terrorism and related threats to global security and concluded the following:

• That terrorism is a significant threat to human security but it is not a new phenomenon.
  
  
• That the world has faced the problem of terrorism for several centuries, but it has recently attracted global attention because of the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, revealing the international dimensions of terror.
  
  
• That the problem of terror, particularly since 9/11, has created a deficit of trust between the West and other cultures, particularly the Islamic societies.
  
  
• That identification of terrorism with any one religion is misleading and inappropriate.
  
  
• That terrorism must be seen as a global security issue.
  

Five Principles

The group recommends the following five principles of the Sustainable Global Security framework:

1. Principle of humane conduct, whereby all human societies are equally respected.
   
   
2. Principle of dialogue, whereby and wherever possible, multi-stake holder dialogue is explored between parties to conflicts.
   
   
3. Principle of just means, whereby the right to use unjust means such as terror and violence against innocent civilians by anyone is totally rejected.
   
   
4. Principle of universal values, but regional and local specificities in constructing peace and deconstructing terror.
   
   
5. Principle of prevention of violence and conflicts.
   

The group also recommended the application of common standards, in the implementation of the recommendations made in the Global Agenda below.

Global Agenda

While many recommendations have been made by various institutions and fora to deal with the problem of terrorism, the group would particularly like to make the following suggestions:

1. The establishment of an international expert group by the United Nations representing various stakeholders to prepare a definition of terrorist acts with benchmarks to designate terrorist groups on a regular basis. It should also prepare a simultaneous listing of states that engage in acts of terror or allow their intelligence agencies and other structures to provide support and inputs to terrorist groups. The United Nations can consider such a listing for collective action against such states, terrorist groups, leaders and their affiliates.
   
   
2. A new arrangement should be introduced to complement the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to secure fissile material and nuclear weapons from seizure by, or transfer to, terrorist groups or states that have a track record of supporting terrorism. This should be undertaken by the International Atomic Energy Agency. A comparable arrangement should be made for chemical and biological weapons.
   
   
3. The Charter of the United Nations should be reviewed and strengthened in the light of the new threats to global security, particularly terrorism. In this context, an expert group should be created to explore a fresh global approach on fair rules for the use of force by states designed to deal with the threat of terrorism, ethnic cleansing and genocide. It should also explore new ways of promoting political and peaceful resolution of conflicts leading to the end of military occupations.
   
   
4. A Global Transformation Initiative should be launched to reform education and promote tolerance and respect for all religions and ethnic groups among young people worldwide. Such an initiative should include large-scale capacity building, on the basis of equal opportunities for men and women, through exchanges and other means, to empower them to deal with the demands of the modern society.
   
   
5. While the group has made the above recommendations to deal with some aspects of constructing peace and deconstructing terror, the group emphasises that the long term needs of sustainable global security should be addressed by eradicating poverty, establishing rule of law, respecting human rights and abolishing weapons of mass destruction.