European governments must take a principled stand on the issue of human rights as a key part of the global strategy for combating terrorism, Gijs de Vries, the European Union?s counter-terrorism co-ordinator, said on Thursday.

He told a seminar organised by the Centre for European Reform that, while he had ?no doubt? violent extremists and terrorist recruiters could be beaten, an essential tool of the strategy had to be ?winning the battle for hearts and minds?, and engaging the support of moderate Muslim opinion worldwide.