Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged people everywhere on Tuesday to support victims of terrorism and their families, saying it is \u2018a moral imperative\u2019 to promote, protect, and respect their human rights. The UN chief said in a statement on the first International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism on Tuesday that \u2018caring for victims and survivors and amplifying their voices helps to challenge the narrative of hatred and division that terrorism aims to spread.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we lift up the victims and survivors of terrorism, listen to their voices, respect their rights and provide them with support and justice,\u201d Guterres said, \u201cwe are honoring our common bonds, and reducing the lasting damage done by terrorists to individuals, families and communities.\u201d The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution last December \u201cdeeply deploring the suffering caused by terrorism to the victims and their families\u201d and proclaiming August 21 as the annual day to honor and support victims and survivors.<\/p>\n
At the opening of a UN exhibition last Friday entitled \u2018Surviving Terrorism: Victims\u2019 Voices\u2019 to commemorate the first annual international day, the secretary-general said victims have a powerful role to play in combatting the \u2018global menace.\u2019 \u201cWe can all learn from those who have experienced terrorism,\u201d Guterres said.<\/p>\n
Iraqi Hasan Wahhab Al Araji spoke of his anxiety and joyless life after his best friend Mohammed was abducted and killed by al-Qaida extremists, his 24-year-old lawyer cousin Saif was killed in a car bomb, and the body of another cousin, 31-year-old Yahiya, was found riddled with shrapnel after a suicide bomber targeted a neighborhood mosque.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had difficulty sleeping and was unable to concentrate,\u201d Al Araji said at the exhibition opening. \u201cI often displayed aggressive and nervous behavior. \u2026 I often feared and imagined losing my own life and that more of my loved ones would soon be killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it took him \u2018a very long time to return to normalcy,\u2019 stressing that the need for medical and psychological treatment for victims in Iraq is \u2018dire.\u2019 Today, Al Araji said, he works with local and international human rights organization to fight \u2018the narrative of terrorism\u2019 and to \u2018be part of a positive message that encompasses peace and hope.\u2019<\/p>\n
Nigerian Imrana Alhaji Buba spoke of being traumatized after Boko Haram extremists stopped a bus he was in heading to the University of Maiduguri where he was studying in June 2010, and he escaped being taken because \u2018they thought that I was dead.\u2019<\/p>\n
While recovering from that trauma, he said two uncles were killed by a bomb dropped in a crowded place close to a market, a neighbor was murdered, and a friend was kidnapped for almost three weeks until his father paid a ransom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged people everywhere on Tuesday to support victims of terrorism and their families, saying it is \u2018a moral imperative\u2019 to promote, protect, and respect their human rights. The UN chief said in a statement on the first International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism on Tuesday that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39875,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39873\/revisions\/39875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}