Ebadi: Education and justice keys to ending terrorism

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More important than law enforcement, education and justice are all the world needs to eradicate terrorism and fundamentalism, Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, says.

"To end terrorism and fundamentalism is through education and by upholding justice," Ebadi said in an address to a discussion on human rights here on Friday.

She implied that it was not enough to enforce the law against terrorists without addressing the root cause of terrorism itself.

Ebadi, who as a lawyer is active in fighting for Iranian the rights of women and children among other issues, said that there were communities that could not find a way to be recognized and channel their aspirations, and such conditions had forced them into taking drastic measures just to be heard.

"These communities have no idea of what social justice is, and they become fundamentalists to show their identity," she underlined.

She said that educating them should include teaching them the understanding of the true values of religions that accept differences and practice tolerance.

Speaking in Farsi, she warned that these communities could be found not only in developing countries, but also in developed countries and that one of their aims was to resist the unfair distribution of wealth.

"Those who are hungry, suffering from unjust treatment and have no way to channel their aspirations will find death an end, and the issues should be addressed," she suggested.

Ebadi received the Nobel Peace Prize for her endless fight to defend Iranian women's rights and for fighting against discriminative rulings that repress women.

However, she brushed aside the idea that Islam had anything to do with acts of violence, saying that terrorism had nothing to do with race, religion or culture.

"We should separate terrorism from culture and religion. I was surprised that some have manifested it on Islam," Ebadi remarked.

Although it is true that some small Muslim groups condone violence, they do not represent the majority of Muslims, she said.

Islam, just as all religions, shares the values of human rights and democracy, and there are many articles on human rights in the Koran, she added.

"Human rights is an universal value, resulting from civilization ... and it is unjustifiable, by any religion, for one human being to take away a freedom of another," she said.

However, she underlined that religious practices should be decided by the individual and not regulated by the state.

"For that reason I oppose the regulation banning the wearing of head scarves. I also oppose the enforcement of wearing head scarves in many Muslim countries, even on non-Muslim women," she said. She did not wear a head scarf during her visit to Indonesia.

Before addressing the seminar, Ebadi presented her paper at a seminar on Islamic values and met with many organizations to discuss human rights.

Ebadi will leave the country on the weekend.