From: Clive Denton
Date: 2005-08-24 22:53:53
First Britain, next, the World………——-UK seeks UN crackdown on incitement to terrorism
Jamie Wilson in Washington and Reuters at the UNWednesday August 24 2005The GuardianBritain is trying to orchestrate a meeting of UN security council leaders in an attempt to get all 191 UN members to adopt legislation outlawing the incitement of terrorism.The proposed high-level meeting between the 15 presidents and prime ministers would coincide with next month’s UN summit in New York, according to two British diplomats.The British plan would follow up, at the global level, on Mr Blair’s domestic crackdown on incitement of terrorism, which he announced on August 5 after the London suicide bombings which left 52 people dead.Richard Grenell, spokesman for the US Mission to the UN, told Reuters that Washington had been working with London on a resolution targeting the incitement of terrorism.President Bush is expected to attend the summit in New York along with Tony Blair, French president Jacques Chirac and Russian president Vladimir Putin. However, US officials are thought to have so far discouraged proposals for a high-level council meeting, although a British diplomat told the Guardian last night that talks were “ongoing”.Downing Street is consider-ing whether to ask the security council to approve a resolution or statement calling on all UN members to adopt legislation outlawing the incitement of terrorism, a British diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter, told Reuters.Another British diplomat later confirmed the accuracy of the Reuters account.The resolution or statement would seek to strike an appropriate balance between the need to prevent terrorist acts and to protect human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, the source said.London has mentioned its idea to the Philippines, which holds the rotating security council presidency in September, and to the US, France, Russia and China, the four other veto-wielding permanent members along with Britain, the diplomat said.The reaction to date had been “fairly positive”, he said.Mr Blair’s anti-terrorism measures announced earlier this month signalled a turning point in British postwar liberalism. They included plans to deport extremist foreign Islamic clerics without appeal, close down mosques preaching hate, proscribe extremist Muslim groups and extend the use of control orders to Britons advocating terrorism.The prime minister also promised to fight the British and European courts, warning he would amend the Human Rights Act if necessary to override likely judicial objections to proposed deportations.Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to www.guardian.co.uk
