The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today launched a #NoHateNoFear initiative to counter terrorism.

At a special ceremony, parliamentarians stood up to say NO to hate and fear. They committed to follow up on this initiative in their national parliaments, PACE said in a statement.

“We have to prevent the mutual suspicion and hostility that fear of terrorism engenders as an ill in its own right. This is the main purpose of our Assembly’s initiative against terrorism #NoHateNoFear,” PACE President Pedro Agramunt announced.

"Terrorism has become a reality of life. Atrocious attacks in Istanbul, Brussels, Tunis, Paris, and recently Orlando have taken the lives of many of our citizens. These heinous attacks have left deep scars that will take years to heal.

Terrorism is violence calculated to create an atmosphere of fear and alarm, panic, despair, anger and hate.

But terror only works when we let our fear and anger dictate what happens next,” he said..

Head of PACE called on politicians to shoulder their responsibility to speak out publicly against fear and hatred, and to promote fundamental freedoms and the values of tolerance, non-discrimination and respect for human dignity.

With the #NoHateNoFear initiative, PACE wants to rally as many people as possible – politicians, religious leaders, academics, journalists, representatives of civil society and ordinary citizens – to say “NO” to fear and hatred.