A “resolute and relentless” response to armed fanatics, “anchored by human rights first-principles,” can help democracies to defeat terrorism, according to Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland.
He marked the one year anniversary of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, by outlining his programme for tackling the terrorists and their “bankrupt and backward ideology.”
The Secretary General warned that “counter-terrorism should not corrode our democratic systems, leading us to rein-in expectations and sacrifice our freedoms.”
Twelve people were murdered by Islamist gunmen at the magazine’s premises, including its editor Stephane Charbonnier.
A day later, Amedy Coulibaly shot dead a policewoman. After storming the kosher supermarket, he killed another four men.