London to host International Conference of Jurists 2013

New Delhi, Dec 07: The next meeting of the International Conference of Jurists, whose recent New Delhi Declaration calling for giving priority to curbing terrorism over human rights violations sparked off a global debate, would be held in London in June 2013.

“The city of London would be hosting the next International Conference of Jurists on June 25 and 26, 2012”, President of the International Council of Jurists (ICJ), Dr Adish C Aggarwala, said in a statement here.

The two-day meeting would take forward the deliberations at the recent ICJ meeting in Delhi (December 1-2, 2012) including ways to curb terrorism and human rights, he said.

‘The New Delhi Declaration Against All Forms of Terrorism’ appealed to the judiciary all over the world “to curb terrorism with an iron hand, and not to show any leniency whatsoever to perpetrators of such acts of violence.”

“Curbing terrorism and not human rights violations should be the first priority considering the fact that human lives have to be protected from the onslaught of terrorism>” said the resolution moved by ICJ President Dr Adish C Aggarwala and seconded by ICJ Member S Prabhakaran.

Earlier, inaugurating the meet, National Human Rights Commission and former Chief Justice of India Justice K G Balakrishnan had said the fight against terrorism must be won in accordance with the rule of law, and  the approach to fighting terrorism should be "humane, rational and secular" and "consistent with democratic principles".

Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohd Chaudhry had skipped the meeting apparently in the aftermath of the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist involved in the 2008 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

However, Justice Samsuddin Choudhary of Bangladesh Supreme Court supported Kasab’s hanging saying if terrorism was allowed to flourish, human rights would get annihilated.

"Hanging of Kasab was good and he deserved it," he said.

He said there could be "no compassion for terrorists as they have no compassion for innocent lives."

Referring to the mythology of Goddess Durga, he said the Assura (demon) of terrorism has born again and Maa Durga would have to take rebirth to destroy it.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS, PLEASE CONTACT:

(Dr. Adish C Aggarwala)

President,

International Council of Jurists

Convener, Indian Council of Jurists