New York/Information Office/05 October 2016/ Qatar has called on the international society to intensify cooperation in order to reach a comprehensive international agreement on terrorism, stressing that the continuation of conflicts without settlement and stripping nations of their right to freedom and self-determination will foster extremism and terrorism in the long-term. Saoud Moqbel Al Qahtani, member of Qatar's delegation to the 71st U.N. general assembly, made the remarks as he addressed the Sixth Committee (legal) on measures to eliminate international terrorism. Al Qahtani said the international society continues its huge and unprecedented efforts to uproot terrorism and address its root causes but on the other hand the terrorist groups continue their criminal plots to target innocent civilians and undermine the security and stability of world countries. He noted that terrorism flourishes in environments where human rights are violated and the rule of law and accountability are absent, adding that terrorist groups are active in societies that suffer from social injustices caused by political exclusion and marginalization along sectarian, religious and ethnic lines. The presence of unsettled long-term conflicts and policies based on persecution and depriving people of their right to freedom and self-determination fuel extremism and terrorism. Al Qahtani said it is critical that states cooperate more fully to achieve a more comprehensive convention against terrorism. He added that Qatar is actively involved in negotiations, including coming up with a specific definition of terrorism and specifying the lack of a link between terrorism and religion. However, he noted that it is important to distinguish between terrorism and legitimate self-defense, especially for countries that were occupied. Qatar, he said, is party to most international agreements against terrorism in accordance with the belief that international coordination is crucial to countering it. Al Qahtani said the Qatari government has supported a partnership agreement between Silatech in Qatar and the working group concerned with implementation in the field of counter-terrorism, which was signed in June 2016 and includes the execution of a mutual project in the Arab region that focuses on protecting young people from extremism and pushing them away from the threat of terrorism, and establishes the partnership agreement in order to create programs that promote youth capacities in line with the role of Silatech in this regard. Through the role of its national judicial committees in fighting terrorism, Al Qahtani said, Qatar continues to work and cooperate with regional and international judicial institutions and follows up on the implementation of conventions and bilateral memoranda of understanding in the field of security cooperation on counterterrorism. As part of intensifying international campaigns against terrorist groups, Al Qahtani said Qatar continued to enhance and promote relevant legislations that prohibit the illegal use of electronic tools for terrorism-related ends as well as regulating the work of charity organizations in a way that ensures they are not used for any goal beyond the humanitarian objectives they were established for. Concluding his address, Al Qahtani reiterated Qatar's keenness on continuing to work within the Sixth Committee in order to put the final draft for the procedures related to the comprehensive agreement on international terrorism and to work with the international organizations to eradicate terrorism.