The 115th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Convinced that the fundamental goal of the international community is the achievement of peace and prosperity for all humanity, which requires it both to address threats to security and stability, together with the underlying causes thereof, and to ensure access to sufficient and appropriate energy for all States at all levels of development, in the framework of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter,

Deeply concerned by the senseless suffering and destruction inflicted on humankind by terrorist activities,

Emphasizing that the use of violence against civilians to achieve any political objective is unacceptable under the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,

Stressing that there can be no justification whatsoever for any act of terrorism,

Recognizing that terrorism constitutes the worst violation of human rights,

Rejecting any attempt to associate terrorism with any religion, race, culture or nationality,

Deploring the upsurge in terrorism, and recalling that this not only jeopardizes initiatives aimed at achieving international peace and security, but also risks impeding dialogue between nations, cultures and religions, and stokes mutual distrust and suspicion,

Noting that the need to fight terrorism diverts resources and attention from other important projects that could enhance the quality of life around the world,

Noting the close link between terrorist organizations and organized crime networks,

Noting the crucial role that parliaments play in drafting legislation aimed at establishing an appropriate legal framework for combating terrorism, its causes and its financing,

Recalling past resolutions of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), especially those adopted at the 95th, 105th, 106th, 107th and 108th Inter-Parliamentary Conferences and 109th, 111th, 112th and 113th Inter-Parliamentary Assemblies,

Recalling the resolution adopted at the 114th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the role of parliaments in strengthening control of trafficking in small arms and light weapons and their ammunition,

Highlighting the importance of cooperation among States in the fight against terrorism,

Reiterating that strengthening democracy, promoting human rights and supporting the just and peaceful settlement of conflicts, in compliance with the norms and principles of international law, are essential in the fight against terrorism,

Reiterating the importance and scope of the Millennium Declaration in achieving development objectives and promoting a world sustained by peace, justice and the economic and social development of peoples,

Emphasizing that international cooperation with a view to addressing international problems of an economic, social, cultural, development or humanitarian nature is an appropriate means of consolidating international peace and security,

Reminding weapon-producing countries, especially those that produce weapons and material of mass destruction, of their responsibility to prevent terrorists and terrorist organizations from acquiring such weapons, and recalling the obligation for all countries to fight the illegal trade in arms,

Recalling United Nations General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on threats to international peace and security that terrorist acts represent,

Welcoming the report of the United Nations Secretary-General entitled "Uniting against terrorism: recommendations for a global counter-terrorism strategy", and the recent adoption of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy,

Welcoming also the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism,

Noting with interest the United Nations Security Council agreement to explore the possibility of setting up an international fund to compensate victims of terrorism and their families,

Deeply concerned that the United Nations General Assembly was unable to conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism at its 60th Session,

Noting that energy sources and infrastructure are often vulnerable to terrorist attack,

Recalling the resolution adopted at the 114th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which acknowledges the controversy surrounding the nuclear option for energy production, and further recognizing that this option is especially vulnerable to terrorist threats because of the potentially devastating effects of an attack,

Noting that global energy consumption is growing and will continue to grow in the foreseeable future,

Noting also the importance of energy security to all countries, not least developing countries, and to the health of the global economy,

Emphasizing that energy and energy security are central to sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts,

Noting the important work done by both the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations University Geothermal Training Programme,

1. Encourages parliaments to work within their spheres of competence to promote the achievement of a lasting and just peace in the world, based on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter;

2. Reiterates that the fight against terrorism is never a fight against any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group;

3. Strongly condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and whatever its source, as an unjustifiable act of criminality and terrorists themselves as common criminals who have no moral standing;

4. Calls on governments, parliaments and the international community to identify and address the causes which create an environment that might make people susceptible to the rhetoric of terrorists and terrorist organizations, in particular poverty, ignorance, economic deprivation, injustice and occupation;

5. Demands that all States refrain from and prevent any banks, organizations or other entities within their territories and jurisdiction from funding or encouraging terrorist activities or lending any kind of support to terrorists or terrorist organizations;

6. Emphasizes that parliaments also have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that human rights and the rule of law are duly kept in focus when pursuing the fight against terrorism;

7. Calls on all parliaments to provide strong and effective support to all resolutions and recommendations on the fight against terrorism adopted at Inter-Parliamentary Conferences and Assemblies;

8. Calls on the United Nations to work more closely with the IPU in the fight against terrorism;

9. Reiterates its call to the world's parliaments to promote a consensus on the United Nations conventions on terrorism, urges national parliaments to press their governments to sign and ratify all relevant United Nations conventions and other international instruments aimed at fighting terrorism, and calls for the establishment of national parliamentary monitoring systems to follow up the implementation of these instruments;

10. Calls for strong parliamentary support for the preparation of a comprehensive United Nations convention on international terrorism, including a universally-agreed definition of terrorism, and requests parliaments to put pressure on their governments to this end;

11. Calls on the United Nations to develop standards for compliance with United Nations Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), and to put in place programmes to assist nations in achieving compliance, and clear measures for dealing with non-compliance;

12. Calls on the IPU to cooperate more closely with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and to continue to promote the implementation of the UNODC Global Programme against Terrorism;

13. Calls on all States to give full support to the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), and calls for a CTED dialogue with parliamentarians and parliaments;

14. Welcomes the establishment of the United Nations Democracy Fund, applauds the States that have contributed to the Fund and calls on all other nations to follow their example;

15. Calls again on all countries to intensify efforts for the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) and of United Nations General Assembly resolution 58/48, to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, and to consolidate policies aimed at preventing the transfer, especially to terrorists, of equipment, materials and technology which may be used for the proliferation and/or manufacture of such weapons;

16. Calls on governments and parliaments to make sustained and concrete efforts and to exchange information to identify and stop nuclear proliferators and to adopt specific measures to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists or terrorist organizations;

17. Calls on all countries to ensure non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, without distinction and by all States, and implementation of the conventions to limit and prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

18. Requests all governments systematically and concretely to combat trafficking in small arms and light weapons and their ammunition, particularly by implementing all the instruments put in place under the United Nations Programme of Action and the recommendations contained in the relevant resolution adopted at the 114th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union;

19. Urges governments to produce a treaty on the international trade in arms that strictly regulates the transportation of weapons and ammunition;

20. Calls on the United Nations General Assembly to promote international solidarity in support of the victims of terrorist acts and their relatives, including through the establishment of an international fund to compensate such persons;

21. Calls for a deeper international energy dialogue that includes consideration of the links between terrorism and energy security, and which must involve parliaments;

22. Calls for increased parliamentary cooperation, at the international and regional levels, on energy security;

23. Calls on governments to facilitate safe and affordable access to energy transport networks;

24. Calls for governments to look into the ways and means of increasing cooperation between relevant agencies and formulating regional cooperative emergency response systems;

25. Calls on parliaments to enact legislation which will encourage consumers to use renewable energy and promote research and development in new and alternative energy sources;

26. Calls for parliaments to adopt legislation, including fiscal measures, which favours vehicles that use environment-friendly energy;

27. Calls on parliaments and governments to draw up national plans and strategies for energy diversification, enhanced energy efficiency and conservation of energy resources;

28. Welcomes the international cooperation initiatives taken to advance research on thermonuclear fusion;

29. Calls on nations to promote cooperation and capacity building in clean technologies that have little impact on the environment, in order to contribute to energy conservation, efficient energy use and environmental protection;

30. Calls for an increased focus on the possibilities for utilizing renewable energies, especially through the training of specialists from developing countries;

31. Calls on the World Bank, UNDP and the United Nations Environment Programme to further increase their work on energy self-sufficiency;

32. Calls on UNDP to scale up its efforts to improve access to modern energy services in the least developed countries;

33. Calls on governments to approach nuclear energy for peaceful purposes with caution, by submitting to public scrutiny and ensuring sustainable programmes for managing nuclear waste.

* The delegation of Venezuela expressed a reservation on all paragraphs dealing with energy security. The delegation of Israel expressed a reservation on operative paragraph 4.

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