Active foreign policy needed to beat terrorism
An active foreign policy which develops human rights is needed to tackle the roots of terrorism, foreign office minister Ian Pearson has said.
Mr Pearson made the comments as he launched the annual Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) report.
The London terror attacks reminded us that there was “no human right more sacred than the right to be alive”, Mr Pearson said. “Without this human right all others are impossible.”
But Mr Pearson said it was important to prevent future terrorists by dealing with discontent around the world. By dealing with poverty, oppression, exploitation and dictatorship the causes of terrorism could be dealt with, he said.
The Foreign Office minister said the package of debt relief and aid announced by the G8 would go some way to addressing the problem of poverty around the world. But the “key to ending poverty” lay in “improving good governance, the rule of law and democracy”.
