Victims of global terrorism find mutual understanding at Co Antrim event

Victims of terrorism from across the world have found mutual understanding in each other during an event in Co Antrim.

People travelled from across the UK, the US and Spain to attend the gathering in Lisburn on the United Nation’s International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.

Juliette Scauso was four-and-a-half when her father Dennis, a firefighter, was killed in the line of duty after a terror attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001.

She said the stories of the other victims resonated with her.

“There’s little explanation required. Of course you end up telling each other about your own personal journey, but there is a shared understanding that few words are required for,” she said.

“I definitely resonated with the stories of the other victims here. It’s a reminder that there are other people and other places in the world that are still struggling the same way that I do when the grief rears its ugly head again.

“I am not living a unique experience, which is sad, but that’s the reality.”

Ms Scauso said that even 25 years on, the 9/11 victims are still in the midst of legal action, and fighting for compensation as well as other issues.

She also spoke about the challenges of being bereaved in a very high-profile event, as well as their grave for their father being the official memorial.

“Around 40% of the victims of 9/11 were never recovered, my father is one of those,” she said.

“Our grave is the memorial. It’s a beautiful memorial and it’s a nice tribute, but it’s a tourist attraction. I have been there many a time and see strangers taking selfies. It’s not a place where you feel closure or the ability to grieve privately.”

Ms Scauso and Darryn Frost, originally from South Africa – who survived the London Bridge terror attack in 2019 and apprehended a perpetrator, both stressed the importance of education to try and prevent future attacks.

He also stressed the importance of keeping alive the memories of those who have died.

“In 2019, I was unfortunate to find myself in the midst of a terror attack on London Bridge, inside Fishmongers Hall, and myself and a few other responders intervened, and I stopped an assailant and held him down until police took him off me,” he said.

“What has been very interesting is to hear and recognise how the wounds are still within Northern Ireland – there is still a lot of suffering, there is still a lot of pain, there are still a lot of people who haven’t had the opportunity to see justice for the pain that they have experienced.

“But there is a common theme of victims and resilience and coming together to try and prevent these atrocities in the future.

“Education, and that famous saying from Jo Cox that we have more in common than the things that divide us, and I think we need to challenge when we dehumanise people, if we talk about boats crossing or anything that dehumanises people, let’s remember these are people who are taking actions because of circumstances that they have found themselves in, and question what would we do in their situations.”

Kenny Donaldson, director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) – which organised the event, said they believe it is the first time the day has been formally marked in the Northern Ireland or across the UK.

“This a UN-led initiative and as a recent member group of the UN Votan, Victims of Terrorism Association Network, SEFF feels it very important that this day be acknowledged,” he said.

“It represents an opportunity for victims/survivors of terrorism, their support organisations, nation states and others to come together in an act of common solidarity to signify opposition to terrorism but more so to devise policies intended to thwart terrorism in its inception stage but also efforts to glorify, romanticise and diminish the effects of terrorism.”

He said following discussion panels, the event linked in directly with the official UN event which was broadcast to the venue in Lisburn on Thursday afternoon.

“We are blessed to have assembled international voices who really added to discussions held across the day,” he said.