Central Asia and Caucasus vow to take harder line on terrorism - UN

Nine countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus have agreed to use their mass media and civil society institutions to develop "a culture of intolerance" towards all forms of terrorism, the United Nations reported today.

Concluding a three-day UN-backed workshop in Antalya, Turkey, government representatives from across the region pledged to improve their laws against terrorism and organized crime.

They also said voiced interest in receiving support to ratify and implement 12 international conventions against terrorism.

In addition, participating nations pledged to take international human rights and humanitarian laws into account as they continued their fight against the scourge of terrorism.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which helped set up the workshop, urged the countries to foster closer ties with such bodies as the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee, the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Delegates from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan took part in the event.