Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has endorsed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's decision to co-sponsor the US resolution on foreign terrorist fighters at the United Nation (UN) Security Council meeting in New York.In a release yesterday, Ramlogan also assured that the resolution would not impact on law-abiding citizens, since it was aimed at those bent on causing death and destruction."This resolution targets terrorists and their support base that use deadly force to inflict maximum damage and harm on innocent, peaceful law-abiding citizens. People who do not fall into this category have no cause for concern," he said.
Ramlogan said he recognises the "grave threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters to security, law and order. We are therefore pleased to collaborate with the US and other member states to do our part to combat the global challenge posed by terrorism."The AG contended that while T&T has been characterised by our tolerance of each other's beliefs, "we are not immune from the growing international threat of those who believe that all people should think as they do and who would use the force of arms to impose their ideology on others."
He said T&T must "cut the lifeline of financial support that is the oxygen of terrorism. The complex network of support is borderless, as the tentacles of terrorists can penetrate every nation, every institution and every town and village."T&T, he said, was party to several treaties that dealt with terrorism and also had proactive legislative measures to "combat this pernicious evil."
The legislative measures required by yesterday's resolution, Ramlogan added, were already part of local pieces of legislation, such as the Anti-Terrorism (Financial Obligations) Regulations 2011, the Police Service Act 2000, the Administration of Justice (Deoxyribonucleic acid) Act and the Anti-personnel Mines Act 2000.He said he was also pleased that the resolution was compatible with the existing international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law."Indeed, it is built on the bedrock of fundamental human rights and freedom that reinforce the rule of law in the T&T Constitution and our legal system," he said.