India raised the profile of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) as the chair of this committee, said Permanent Ambassador to United Nations Ruchira Kamboj on Wednesday, as she summed up New Delhi’s tenure at the UN high table.
To a question about India’s focus on fighting terrorism under its UNSC tenure, ambassador Kamboj told ANI that “right at the beginning of our tenure in Jan 2021, External Affairs Minister (S Jaishankar) had presented an eight-point action plan of UN system to credibly address the menace of terrorism and ensure effective action”.
“As the chair of the counter-terrorism committee, we raised the profile of this committee,” she added.
India hosted a special meeting of the UN Security Council’s CTC in October to discuss terror financing through crypto-currency and the use of drones in the new-age terrorism. On October 29, the CTC unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
Among the listed items in the Declaration was the decision to continue to work on recommendations on the three themes of the Special Meeting and the intention to develop a set of non-binding guiding principles to assist member states to counter the threat posed by the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
India’s Permanent ambassador recalled the special meeting held in India, which resulted in the landmark Delhi Declaration. “And this was followed up by a presidential statement on counter-terrorism in December during our current presidency,” she added.
Ambassador Kamboj said India has faced the horrors of cross-border terrorism for decades before the world took serious note of it. “We have lost many innocent lives, we have fought terrorism with zero tolerance. We will continue to do so, and as our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has stated, not rest till terrorism is uprooted,” she told ANI.
Summing up India’s tenure as a UNSC member and its December presidency, Kamboj quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to say that India used the prestige and experience of being the largest democracy in the world for the benefit of the whole world.
“During the last two years, we spoke out in support of peace, security, and prosperity. We did not hesitate to raise our voice against common enemies of humanity such as terrorism. We were the voice of the entire global south. We reinforced our commitment to the basic principles including multilateralism, rule of law and a fair and equitable international system,” she said.
Highlighting India’s UNSC presidency, the Indian ambassador said, “We raised our voice against terrorism through these two years, bringing attention to its various expressions which need to be addressed by the international community through solidarity and unity.”
“In October 2022, we brought the security council or the famous horseshoe table to India for the very first time, adopting the Delhi Declaration where the security council spoke with one voice, encountering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” she added. (ANI)
