United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged the Security Council not to sacrifice human rights and the rule of law in a renewed fight against international terrorism.
"Domestically, the danger is that, in pursuit of security, we end up sacrificing crucial liberties, thereby weakening our common security, not strengthening it, and thereby corroding the vessel of democratic government from within," he said.
"Internationally, we are seeing an increasing use of what I call the T-word - terrorism - to demonise political opponents, to throttle freedom of speech and the press, and to de-legitimise legitimate political grievances," he said.
Mr Annan was speaking at the start of an open council session, called to inject new momentum into the fight against terrorism.
The council was to adopt a 14-point declaration urging all countries to do more to avert the "serious and growing danger" that terrorists would acquire and use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
While it stated its "strong determination to intensify the fight against terrorism," the declaration contained no new proposals for action.
Instead, it asked Mr Annan to present a report within 28 days "summarising any proposals made during its ministerial meeting and any commentary or response to these proposals by any Security Council member."
The council called on governments to intensify co-operation with its counter-terrorism committee, set up after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States to starve terrorists of financial and other kinds of support.
Committee chairman Mr Jeremy Greenstock, the British ambassador to the United Nations, said that while most countries had replied to the committee's request for information, 13 had not yet done so.
"We must expose the laggards, the momentum has to be sustained," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the council.
Mr Annan began by noting that "terrorism is a menace that requires a global response" and said the United Nations had a central role to play in fighting it.
AFP