Need to tackle causes, symptoms of all extremism: May

United Nations, Sep 21: British Prime Minister Theresa May has called on the international community to adopt comprehensive national action plans to tackle both the causes and symptoms of all extremism.

May on Tuesday made the remarks at an annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, saying the terrorist threats facing the world do not come from one country but exist in a different space.

"These (terrorist) organisations are using our own modern banking networks against us," Xinhua quoted May as saying.

"So we need to look at our regulations, our information sharing and using our technological capacities to get ahead of them."

"They are exploiting the internet and social media to spread an ideology that is recruiting people to their cause all over the world. So we need to tackle this ideology head-on," she said.

On migration issue, May said the international community must ensure a managed and controlled international migration response and at the same time investing to tackle underlying drivers of displacement and migration at source.

May said there is nothing wrong with the desire to migrate for a better life. She added that "controlled, legal, safe, economic migration brings benefits to our economies".

Over 140 world leaders are gathering in New York to attend 71st session of the UN General Assembly till September 26.

This year's theme for the General Assembly is "The Sustainable Development Goals: A Universal Push to Transform our World".