UNSC members praise India for CTC leadership

We must say that all this backlog was cleared, Evstigneeva said.Russia welcomed that the Counter Terrorism Committee returned to its routine operation and was able to fulfil its critical task to assess the implementation of relevant UNSC resolutions by member states.We thank the government of India and the Executive Directorate of the CTC for successful organisation and convening of a retreat session in New Delhi on 29 October on issues of countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.This was a showcase event in terms of organisation and housekeeping details.


PTI | United Nations | Updated: 24-11-2022 21:33 IST | Created: 24-11-2022 21:33 IST
UNSC members praise India for CTC leadership

The members of the 15-nation UN Security Council have lauded India for its leadership of the Counter-Terrorism Committee and for successfully hosting its special meeting in the country last month, terming it a "showcase event" during which the "forward-looking" 'Delhi Declaration' was adopted.

The UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee on October 29 called on member-countries to ensure "zero tolerance" towards terrorist activities and vowed to deal with the scourge more vigorously at the end of its two-day special conclave in India.

The meeting, attended by representatives of 15 member countries of the UN Security Council and global counter-terror experts, adopted the "Delhi Declaration" listing the Council's priorities in combating the challenge of terrorism and terror-financing.

The UN Security Council heard briefings from Chairs of Subsidiary bodies of the Council - the Counter-Terrorism Committee chaired by India, 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee chaired by Norway and the 1540 Committee concerning non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction chaired by Mexico.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, in her briefing on Wednesday to the UN Security Council in her capacity as the Chair of the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee, recalled that the Committee organised a Special Meeting on the overarching theme of 'Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes" in Mumbai and New Delhi on October 28-29, with generous support of the Government of India.

India hosted the meeting in its capacity as chair of the Committee. While the second and final day's meeting took place in Delhi on October 29, the first day's events were held in Mumbai.

As an outcome of the Special meeting, the Committee adopted the 'Delhi Declaration' on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.

"The Declaration is a pioneer document aimed at enhancing the Council's approach to address this threat in a comprehensive and holistic manner," she said.

The Council members lauded India for its leadership of the committee as well as for successfully organising the Special Meeting of the committee last month.

Council President for the month of November, Permanent Representative of Ghana to the UN, Ambassador Harold Agyeman said that the Counter Terrorism Committee continues to be an important counterterrorism platform.

"We thank the Chair of the Committee and the Government of India for hosting the Committee Special Meeting in October, with a focus on countering new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes," he said.

Ghana welcomed the adoption of the "forward-looking" Delhi Declaration and "appreciate that it will serve as a non-binding benchmark for countering the new narratives of terrorists." Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva voiced "deep appreciation'' to Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Ambassador Kamboj for her ''professional guidance'' of the body.

''This year India had to deal with issues that piled up during the pandemic. We must say that all this backlog was cleared," Evstigneeva said.

Russia welcomed that the Counter Terrorism Committee returned to its routine operation and was able to fulfil its critical task to assess the implementation of relevant UNSC resolutions by member states.

"We thank the government of India and the Executive Directorate of the CTC for successful organisation and convening of a retreat session in New Delhi on 29 October on issues of countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.

"This was a showcase event in terms of organisation and housekeeping details. We also note high-quality expert support of the Committee by its Executive Directorate. CTED keeps playing a very important role in resolving the entirety of tasks in the area of countering terrorism that the CTC and Security Council are faced with," she said.

Deputy Political Coordinator of France to the UN Alexandre Olmedo said the Counter-Terrorism Committee has allowed UN Member States to reflect on the evolution of the terrorist threat.

''India, as part of its presidency, organised a special meeting in New Delhi that was very successful. We again congratulate India on this meeting. One of the things that we were able to do at that meeting was to collectively think about new ways of financing terrorism," Olmedo said, adding that this is a priority topic for France.

"We were also pleased to address together in New Delhi the issues of online terrorist propaganda, which is also a topic we promote, with many partners, in particular through the Christchurch Appeal. The Counter-Terrorism Committee's exchanges with all the digital actors, especially private ones, have been particularly rich and useful," he added.

China's Ambassador Geng Shuang said the Counter-Terrorism Committee continues to help member states implement counter-terrorism resolutions of the Security Council through multiple means, including country visits, seminars and exchanges.

"In light of global counter-terrorism trends and developments, the Committee also steps up information exchanges on preventing exploitation of the Internet and misuse of emerging technologies for terrorism.

''India, as the Chair of Committee, hosted a Special Meeting this October, which adopted the Delhi Declaration thereby giving impetus to member states' efforts in better tackling the new counter-terrorism challenges," the Chinese envoy said.

He added that the the Counter-Terrorism Committee now has a broader mandate, but it should not deviate from its core mandates of combating and preventing terrorism.

China thanked Chairs of the 1267 Committee, the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and the 1540 Committee of the Security Council for their briefings, and thanked Norway, India and Mexico for their extensive work as Chairs of the three committees.

United Arab Emirates Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab thanked Kamboj and other Chairs for enhancing the transparency of the work of their respective Committees through the briefing of the Security Council.

The UAE expressed sincere gratitude to India for ensuring the Committee's engagement on a wide range of regional and thematic issues, including evolving threats.

The UAE Ambassador noted that last month, the Government of India hosted the CTC for a Special Meeting, focused on the urgent challenges posed by new and emerging technology falling into the hands of terrorists, and the new possibilities to combat terrorism offered by technological innovation.

''As a result, the CTC adopted the 'Delhi Declaration', which is a crucial contribution to our collective response to the threats discussed during the Special Meeting, including terrorist deployment of unmanned aerial systems," Abushahab said.

He added that as the incoming Chair of the CTC, the UAE will build on these vital efforts.

"We are committed to working constructively with all Committee Members to ensure the implementation of the Delhi Declaration and to assist Member States in preventing and countering the terrorist use of new and emerging technologies," he said.

The UK representative said her country appreciates the focus of the Counter Terrorism Committee on emerging technologies, including at the recent CTC meeting in New Delhi, where the committee "benefited from a wide range of briefers''.

''For our work to be effective, the perspectives of technical experts, civil society, human rights defenders, the private sector and academia are invaluable," the UK representative said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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