Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Havana, 6 April 2001
N° 5

Six hundred and eighty eight parliamentarians (of whom 157 are women) coming from 123 countries present at the 105th Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Havana "strongly condemn all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation, wherever and by whomever committed.".

In the resolution entitled "Contribution of the world's parliaments to the struggle against terrorism, in conformity with Resolution 55/158 of the United Nations General Assembly", the Conference "reiterates that criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstances unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them".

It also "urges all States and governments to renounce and make illegal the financing, encouragement, provision of training or support for terrorist activities, as well as the conduct on their territory of terrorist activities against other States, individuals or groups of individuals".

Finally, the resolution "reaffirms the determination of all parliaments in the world to contribute to strengthening international cooperation in this field in order to promote, both nationally and internationally, the adoption and application of effective measures to combat international terrorism and to repress it by prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators".

The Conference also adopted a resolution on "International action to meet the emergency situation in Afghanistan, compounded by the recent destruction of cultural heritage by the Taliban". It "calls on the Taliban to respect human rights in accordance with the relevant international declarations, conventions and covenants"; and to "end the grave violations of the human rights of women and girls, and especially" to "guarantee that women and girls have unrestricted and equal access to health care, education and employment outside the home".

The Conference also "demands that the Taliban reverse their decision to destroy Afghanistan's Islamic and pre-Islamic and Buddhist cultural heritage, and cease the destruction immediately". The Conference also "enjoins the Taliban to close all terrorist training camps in the areas under their control to surrender wanted terrorists to countries where they could be tried and to stop granting sanctuary to international terrorists and their organisations".

The Conference also "calls on the Taliban once and for all to end all illicit trafficking of drugs in the areas under their control and to impose a genuine and permanent ban on the cultivation of opium poppies, the proceeds of which finance Taliban activities".

The delegates present in Havana adopted a resolution on "Securing observance of the principles of international law in the interests of world peace and security", which "urges all States to consider, if they have not yet done so, acceding to and/or ratifying international instruments, as appropriate, in particular the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court and recalls that, in establishing the crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the latter's Statute defines rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence both as war crimes and, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, as crimes against humanity".

The 105th Conference "calls for a complete ban on all weapons of mass destruction and on the transportation of the components of weapons of mass destruction through the air space and/or the exclusive economic zones of other countries and further calls for ratification of the Convention on the Total Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines, and to apply the standards to which they have thus subscribed".

The "Education and culture as essential factors in promoting the participation of men and women in political life and as prerequisites for the development of peoples" was also subject to a resolution adopted by the 105th Conference. The Conference "asserts that education is a prerequisite for promoting sustainable development, securing healthy environment, ensuring peace and democracy and achieving the objectives of combating poverty, slowing population growth, and creating equality between the sexes, and that culture is a fundamental element in the development process".

It "demands that women be given the benefits of education, literacy and vocational training programmes, and to this end suggests that girls should be provided with schooling on an equal footing with boys. Schooling of girls should be subsidised and school supplies provided free of charge in order to overcome any material difficulties".

The Conference also "emphasises the need for education to be among the highest priorities in national budgets and for active promotion of education conducive to the mastery and creative use of science and new information technologies by the younger generations and the training of teachers in science and new technologies".

The four resolutions were adopted by consensus.

Established in 1889 and based in Geneva, the IPU, the world organisation of parliaments, has 141 member parliaments and five associated regional parliamentary assemblies. It has a liaison office with the UN in New York.