India calls for an International agreement against Terrorism at UN

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United Nations – India urged members of the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to dissolve differences and adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the face of growing threat of international terrorism and increasing prevalence of groups fostering such terrorism.

India’s sentiments on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at the “Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism” session of the UNGA’s Sixth Committee which deals with legal matters, were presented by legal officer at India’s Mission to the UN, R. Mythili.

Mythili called for an early finalization of the draft CCIT at the UNGA which has not reached an agreement for many years on what constitutes international terrorism.

Speaking about the pressing need for the CCIT, Mythili urged the member states to work together towards strengthening the effectiveness of the CCIT. “A strong legal framework also needs to be established,” she said.

India’s call for adopting the international agreement, CCIT, urgently came in the wake of recognition by the UN of terrorism proving a serious threat to international peace and security, to human rights and personal freedoms. International terrorism and threat to international peace were one of the major themes at the Summit of the Future this year.

Just as pressing as the global challenge of terrorism, is the need to take note of the sources of such terrorism which include state-sponsored cross border networks, political support for them, recruitment, organized crime, training, finance and new and emerging technologies. The last includes drones and unmanned aircraft systems with cameras, Mythili pointed out.

Blaming state-support and state-sponsorship of terrorism for indecisiveness on CCIT, Mythili said, “The global resolve to fight against terrorism gets diminished because of such states”.

Reminding the committee of many years of continued deliberation on the CCIT, Mythili said that, as part of the ad hoc committee on international terrorism, India has been calling for a comprehensive, multilateral legal framework to counter terrorism since the committee’s establishment in 1972. India also presented the first draft of CCIT in 1996, she said.

“It has been almost 30 years. However, a consensus on this eludes us,” Mythili reiterated.

Dwelling on the definition of international terrorism provided in another document, operating para three of the UN Security Council resolution of 2004, Mythili stressed that all further discussions should be held keeping in mind that definition. That definition also strengthens international anti-terrorism legislation, Mythili said.

However, any effort to deal with international terrorism would require effective international collaboration, Mythili pointed out. She also pointed out that political divides within the committee have been proving a hindrance to such collaboration.

In this connection, Mythili emphasized the apathy displayed by the international community about dealing with terrorism, and its reluctance to overcome minor differences in favor of a treaty, although a number of states have been facing it continuously.

“It is unfortunate that while terrorism remains unabated, destroying humanity and societies around the world, our efforts towards a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism are constrained by narrow differences,” Mythili said.

Mythili pointed out the major international terrorist attack of 911 in 2001, and how that incident led to several multilateral initiatives, including the UN resolution 1373 which established a counter terrorism committee at that time. But that has not helped even after 23 years, to adopt the CCIT, she said, adding that India has been facing cross border terrorism for more than 30 years, and has lost thousands of civilian lives.

Expanding on the cross border terrorism India has been facing, Mythili listed a few of the major terrorist attacks against India, including the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 suicide bombing of a policeman at Pulwama. None of the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attack were prosecuted and were running free in their country due to the political support they had, she said.

Notwithstanding international support, “India has been and will continue to fight terrorism resolutely, bravely and with a zero tolerance approach,” Mythili said.

India has also not backed out of international collaboration in its counter terrorism efforts, Mythili said. India is engaged actively with the UN Global Counter Terrorism Forum, she said. As well, India has convened several international events with focus on terrorism, including the most recent third Ministerial Conference on Counter Terrorism in financing – “No Money for Terror” – in New Delhi in November 2022.

Mythili concluded by re-appealing to the committee to act urgently and collaboratively to adopt CCIT. Referring to the newly adopted Pact for the Future, she said that the Pact was a reminder to rid the future of terrorism.

“The Pact of the future, adopted on 22nd September 2024 at the Summit of the Future, has given us again, underscored, the determination of the Member States to pursue a future free from terrorism,” she said.