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By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Freed French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt called at a U.N. conference on Tuesday for U.N.-backed international status for victims of terrorism with centralized data to publicize their plight.

Making information about victims available on a U.N. Web site would enable "meaningful pressure" to be exerted on their behalf, Betancourt said in a keynote address to the meeting promoted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"Too many totalitarian states hide the reality of victims of terrorism in their country in order not to be accountable for them to the world," she said.

Betancourt was seized by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, during her 2002 presidential campaign. She was rescued in July, after six years' captivity in the jungle.

"It is indispensable to provide an international status to the victims of terrorism," said Betancourt, focusing mainly on those held hostage.

Exposing to the world the reality of their ordeal was "the best way to fight against indifference and the risk of being forgotten," she said.

Being officially recognized as a victim of terrorism by the United Nations would mean someone could be sponsored by a state, a town or an organization to follow their case and support their family's campaign, she said.

The symposium, billed as the first of its kind by the United Nations, was addressed by survivors and relatives of victims of attacks in countries including Russia, Kenya, Jordan, Indonesia, Tanzania, India and Britain.

FOCUS ON VICTIMS

Naomi Kerongo, a Kenyan survivor of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi blamed on al Qaeda, said the world should focus on victims rather than perpetrators of terrorism.

"Most survivors still require constant medical attention, which is inaccessible to us in a country that does not have a state-sponsored medical insurance," she said. "All the survivors whom I speak for have been reduced to destitution."

In opening remarks, Ban said he hoped the conference would help "strengthen the international community's solidarity with victims and improve understanding of how the United Nations and member governments could support them."

He later told reporters he would discuss with advisers "how practically we can establish" the international status proposed by Betancourt, and would encourage member states to discuss a possible convention on the rights of terrorism victims.

Betancourt, who has not ruled out a return to politics, also repeated her calls for governments to talk to terrorists, which many governments say they never do.

Ban brushed aside reporters' questions on why no victims of "state terrorism" or speakers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or the Palestinian territories were present.

The General Assembly launched an anti-terrorism strategy two years ago but has been unable to agree a definition of terrorism for a comprehensive convention against it. (Editing by Alan Elsner)

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