Addressing guests at an event in Kabul on Wednesday, to mark the first International Day of Remembrance and Support to the Victims of Terrorism, Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov, Head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, paid tribute to the victims and survivors of terrorist attacks.
Voronkov said that terrorism is a global threat and in order to address the problem sufficient action needs to be taken on a regional and international level.
Voronkov is taking part in the international conference on “Commemorating the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism”, organized by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
During his visit, Voronkov was also expected to meet with victims of terrorism as well as government officials and the international community, including senior UN officials.
The “International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism” was established by General Assembly resolution 72/165 in 2018. The government of Afghanistan played a leading role to establish this annual international day to honour and support the victims of terrorism.
The Office of Counter-Terrorism was established in June 2017 to provide leadership on the implementation of General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates, to enhance coordination and coherence, and to strengthen the delivery of the United Nations counter-terrorism capacity building assistance to Member States.
At this event, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission’s chairperson Sima Samar called Afghanistan’s situation concerning, saying that 64,104 people have been victims of insurgent attacks in the past nine years and that anti-government armed militants have been responsible for 70 percent of them while government forces and foreign forces have been responsible for 30 percent of them.
“Our peace will be incomplete if it lacks justice. We will not achieve a lasting peace in that case,” said Samar.
New findings of the AIHRC show that 62 percent of 3,129 people interviewed by the commission in 30 provinces have said they have lost relatives to the war while 38 percent have been victims themselves.