The Republic of the Maldives reiterated its call for a single comprehensive convention to eliminate the scourge of global terrorism. Speaking in the legal committee of the United Nations’ General Assembly, First Secretary Salim Waheed elaborated on the Maldives’ commitment to existing conventions, but espoused the need for greater global action.
Condemning terrorism in all its forms as being a “detriment to the social, economic, political, and psychological development of nations and the antithesis to the spirit of [the] United Nations,” the Maldives illustrated the need for an approach that targeted the root causes of terrorism and the need to lessen the appeal of radicalization through using “development as a vehicle to combat extremism.”
Drawing on the resurgence of piracy in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives drew attention to the persistence of organized crime and called on all nations to safeguard the doors of commerce and protect the lifeline of the world’s economy.
The statement further said that being an inherently peaceful nation the Maldives is ever vigilant of ideologies that breed extremism, cultivate hate and thereby foster violence. The Maldives viewed that however legitimate a grievance may be, the use of violence to support that political, religious or other ideology can be defined as nothing less than terrorism.
