On September 15th, the 7th Congress on Victims of Terrorism will be held in Paris. Three hundred relatives of terror victims, as well as politicians and representatives of the security services, will try to find some new ways to counteract terrorists. Human suffering, however, is but one of the faces of terrorism — the other being its huge financial cost. Insurance companies are combining into pools to provide compensation for damages from terrorist attacks, while for ten years France has been the world leader for this type of insurance.

France was the first country to set up a universal pool for damages from terrorist attacks on a large scale. Already back in November 2001, two months after the attacks on the World Trade Center, an insurance pool by the name of Gareat appeared, supported by unlimited government guarantees. A year later, in September 2002, a similar pool also appeared in Germany. The German Extremus, like its French counterpart, is based on government guarantees, but is limited to 10 billion euros, and nuclear, biological, and chemical risks do not fall within the scope of this pool. Anti-terrorism insurance is not compulsory in Germany, either, so for now only about thirty percent of German companies have this type of insurance.

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Terrorism is a global phenomenon affecting all societies. It is never justified. Terrorist organizations will find their own way to commit crimes. They will use various methods of action. They will act against different objectives. But, whatever the chosen course of action, terrorism will always be an unjustified and unfair, cruel, abominable crime as it seeks to undermine the most elemental human rights of people and communities.

But whatever the course that terrorists choose to manifest themselves, its victims are the same. Regardless of the country, the socio-political situation, the motivation or criteria by which its victims are selected, they are all created equal: innocent human beings, by no fault of their own, and owing to what some may call fatal destiny, become victims of assassination, kidnapping, torture, extortion, blackmail and threats. They are violently altered by terrorist action. And victims are the whole society, a society that feels the never-ending threat and the risk of terrorist action, and are ultimately altered by the reality of their possibility any day, any hour.

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Today's society has a great moral and legal responsibility to remember victims of terrorism. The years that these people spent in the fight against terrorism, as well as the radicalism that leads to terrorism, and their work on the consequences of terrorism, have benefited society, which, today more than ever, is subject to these cruel and barbarous terrorist attacks.

What does it mean to be a victim of terrorism? In the world there are states that cannot answer this question and do not wish to answer it. Anneta Gadiyeva is a survivor of the terrible events in Beslan, in North Ossetia, Russia, where on September 3rd, 2004, thirty-two armed militants seized a school. Gadiyeva's speech to the 450 participants of the VII International Congress on Victims of Terrorism was one of the most heartbreaking ever. In Beslan, she lost Melina, her one year-old daughter. The Russian government does not consider these people victims of terrorism, and does not provide them any assistance. Moscow does not know what might be a victim of terrorism.

Another victim of a terrorist attack in Russia is Irina Halay, who also was in Paris. On September 16th, 1999, a vehicle loaded with explosives blew up next to an apartment building in Volgodonsk. Halay reiterated Gadiyeva's speech: no one listens to the victims of terrorism in Russia. They feel alone, and forgotten. No one shows them any sympathy, and even wounded children are not provided specialized medical care. They are not considered victims, but simply injured persons.

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In Paris the 7th International Congress on Victims of Terrorism is underway, under the sponsorship of Nicholas Sarkozy

The Congress was attended by 450 delegates from 35 countries worldwide, all of them having once suffered from the acts of extremist groups.

The opening ceremony was conducted by French justice minister Michel Mercier, who thanked participants for their courage and noted the importance of psychological and medical support to victims of terrorist attacks, as well as to their families:

“We all know that terrorism is a global evil. The purpose of an act of terror is to affect the State and its politics, but civilians are always its victims, as they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is our common duty to honor victims of terrorism, those who died as a result of a terrorist act, and I can tell you how important it is for us to listen to the opinion of these victims. It is a courageous act to speak as a witness. Yet it is a required act, in order that our anti-terrorism work never falters and so that our support and respect for those who have suffered from this senseless violence never weakens.

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