He was speaking at a reception for Project Common Bond which has brought to Belfast, for an eight day educational programme, seventy teenagers from around the world who have lost an immediate family member to a terrorist incident.
The project was set up in the United States in 2008 and this is the first time Common Bond has been held outside the US .
Mr Paterson said:
Anyone who meets victims of terrorism, especially young victims, cannot fail to be moved by the personal tragedy that they have suffered. But the contrast between the positive hope and inspiration of these young people and the emptiness of those who visited evil upon them could not be more stark.
There are still a small number people in our community intent on creating more victims, as evidenced in Londonderry and Bangor this week. The young people of Project Common Bond put them to shame”.