CLUB DE MADRID  URGED TO DECLARE SUICIDE BOMBING 'CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY'

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging the Club De Madrid to endorse the Center's campaign to declare suicide bombing a crime against humanity. "On the eve of the first anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks in Madrid, it is time that the world begin to empower the victims of terror to use the rule of Law in order to go after those who incite and sponsor the culture of death and the suicide terrorism it has spawned", said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the US-based human rights group who is an invited expert at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, currently underway in Madrid.

"Civil Society must move beyond rhetoric  to offer strategies that could help contain the growing threat of terrorism while simultaneously showing solidarity with the often forgotten victims of such atrocities", Cooper added.

Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Center's Director for International Liaison added, "We encourage others to follow the lead of the Vice President of the European Commission, Franco Frattini, who recently endorsed such a move by the international community". Samuels added that the Center has lobbied Pope John Paul II, and the Foreign Ministers of Spain, Turkey, Canada and eight Latin American countries.

The Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States.  It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

For more information, please contact Dr Samuels at +33 6 09770158 or Rabbi Cooper at US phone 310-210-9750.