By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Iran's president has proposed a Global Action against Violence and Extremism in a speech at the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta.
Hassan Rouhani called for combined action from the leaders and representatives of the around 100 countries and international organizations that had gathered for the summit's opening at the Jakarta Convention Center on Wednesday.
"Let us together prevent violence, aggression, terrorism, and extremism from being spread easily throughout the world and stop the shedding of the blood of innocent people," Rouhani said, according to Antara News.
He said terrorism and extremism has spread to many countries in Asia and Africa.
"The terrorists and extremists, particularly in Iraq and Syria and some African countries use the most barbaric methods in killing innocent people for their own political interests and to destroy the infrastructure of these countries," he said.
He underlined that such extremists get logistical, financial and intelligence support from international and regional "players" who want to satisfy their own purposes.
"The sponsors ignore the fact that the persistent instability in the countries hit by the crisis will bring insecurity to the entire world, including their own countries," he added.
Rouhani underlined that the basic principle of the global action group would be respect for human rights, which would apply to matters relating to the life of each individual -- such as beliefs, religion, ethnicity and race.
"The greatest betrayal in a religion is misused religion to legalize murder," he stated.
He called for religious leaders and world leaders to initiate global action against the justification of murder and suicide for reasons of ideology.
"To fight against extremism and terrorism, we need to know the cause for young people who join terrorist groups and stop the recruitment," he added.
Rouhani called for the fight to begin by identifying the economic and cultural roots of radicalism, adding that any support -- "funding, political, and intelligence" -- to the terrorists must be stopped.
He then invited Asian and African leaders to revive the Bandung Spirit, containing the Ten Principles of Bandung, on handling state-to-state relations and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
The spirit has become a widely recognized set of norms for international relations.
"Although the world is now experiencing the era of tremendous change, the principles and values of the Ten Principles of Bandung should remain on the agenda of global diplomacy," he said.
This year's Asia-Africa Conference is being attended by 106 countries, consisting of 21 heads of state, 80 deputy heads of state - vice presidents and prime ministers - and five special envoys.
The summit will last until April 24.
