Delhi Declaration document, digital terror and its deterrence

Coimbatore car blast: Mubin, the suspect suicidal bomber, was radicalised after reading ISIS literature but did not get any training in terrorist tactics. He read up on the Internet about bomb-making.

Weapons dropped by Pak drone seized; two arrested. A Jammu resident was handling them settled in Europe: Police said.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at two locations in Varanasi and Delhi in connection with the ISIS 'Voice of Hind' module case and arrested a 24-year-old "highly radicalised" man, who, the agency said, was engaged in the recruitment of Indian youths on behalf of the ISIS for waging war against the Indian State.

How US officials say ISIS uses social media to recruit. The terrorist group sells kind fighters, happy children and video games with bloody murder and violence to attract people to their cause.

These above news items speak volumes of the footprint or ingredients of digital cross-border terrorism happenings to bleed India. Some of these terrorist actions took place in India when the UN Security Council CTC Conference was taking place in India.

Still, a nonbinding Delhi Declaration is circulated, which many analysts feel is just a balancing act by the UN after bailing out Pakistan from the FATF even though, it is an achievement that the conference happened for the first time in India.

Analysts suggest that India should tackle the challenges internally or bilaterally with innovative methods rather than wait for an incident to happen or for multilateral or international intervention to occur. UN, with every passing year, is losing its credibility.

Analysis of the Delhi declaration

When read between the lines, the Delhi declaration speaks more on core Human Rights than action against those sponsoring terrorism. The first point in the Delhi declaration is that "Member States agree that guidelines and implemented actions should be based on international law and human rights."

However, the UN still needs to acknowledge the definition of a "terrorist”. India has been demanding for years at every meaningful international or multilateral platform, demanding the definition to be accepted by the UN.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, a week earlier in an Interpol's 90th General Assembly conference held in Delhi, stressed the need to achieve a consensus among countries worldwide to tackle the cross-border propagation of terrorist ideologies through online radicalisation.

Shah said he firmly believes that "terrorism is the biggest violation of human rights". To fight cross-border terrorism, the Minister emphasised, "First of all, all countries must agree on the definition of terrorism and terrorist. The commitment to fight terrorism together, and narratives such as good terrorism, bad terrorism and small and big terrorist attacks, do not go together."

In his opening and keynote address at the CTC conference, the Minister of External Affairs, Dr S Jaishankar shared his experience of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He said, "our experience showed us how a benign technology of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) could be used for organising and directing such a barbaric terrorist attack from beyond our borders."

Jaishankar added, "More recently, these terrorist groups have been using unmanned aerial platforms, such as drones and quadcopters, for cross-border trafficking of drugs and arms and carrying out terrorist attacks."

Jaishankar said that the risks are not just limited to India. In Africa, drones have been used by terrorist groups to monitor the movements of security forces and even UN peacekeepers, making them vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

However, our media is all crazy about the outcome of the Delhi declaration document. In its press article, the UN news gives more importance to human rights than tackling the menace India continues to face from invisible hands in Pakistan.

The Indian MEA version stresses more on cross-border terrorism. The Indian takeaway is zero tolerance towards terrorism through the full and effective implementation of UN Security Council resolutions for Member States to fulfil their obligations enshrined in relevant international counter-terrorism conventions.

To prevent any suppressed financing of terrorist acts and to refrain from supporting entities of persons involved in terrorist acts or terrorist opportunities to access safe havens is a significant concern.

The UN news article and document emphasised human rights in the document and during the debates. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, underscored that there must be "concrete measures to reduce these vulnerabilities while committing to protect all human rights in the digital sphere."

Scott Campbell, who leads the digital technology team, echoed the Secretary-General, explaining that "respecting rights when countering terrorism is fundamental to ensuring sustainable and effective efforts to protect our security."

Campbell argued that international law and human rights present many answers to the issue, recalling that the Member States have a duty to protect the security of their population and to ensure that their conduct does not violate the rights of any person.

The main highlights of the Delhi Declaration were:

• Member States agree that guidelines and implemented actions should be based on international law and human rights.
• Members of the Committee will draft recommendations to counter the terrorist exploitation of Information and Communications Technology, such as payment technologies and fundraising methods and misuse of unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones).
• The body will assist Member States in implementing all relevant Security Council resolutions to counter the use of technologies for terrorist purposes while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
• A new set of non-binding guiding principles to assist Member States in countering the digital terrorism threat will be issued, with a compilation of good practices on the opportunities offered by the same set of technologies to tackle threats.
• The relevant offices will commit to deepening engagement and cooperation with civil society, including women and women's organizations, relevant private-sector entities, and other stakeholders, and build partnerships.

Terrorists weaponise the Internet and drones

Today's terrorist is much more Internet savvy and well-connected globally, unlike in earlier decades, the terrorists would dominate the territory for their existence and operations.

New technologies, drones, and encrypted communication system is much easier adopted by terrorists or non-state actors across the globe. The equipment is easily accessible and transported in the open market. Terrorists have been (mis)using all those weapons and gadgets that are multifunctional and easy to carry.

Future challenges

• Using 3D Printing, autonomous vehicles, artificial Intelligence, and virtual reality are the main future challenges that terrorists will exploit.
• Terrorists and non-state actors can easily use 3D printing technology to produce a drone, and an Android phone's navigation system can allow flying a designated path. The expenses are minimum. It needs a counter product to neutralise it.
• Drones have become a menace for the patrolling security troops on the Line of Control and the international border. It needs more accurate anti-drone technology to neutralise them.
• With Autonomous vehicles, it is feared that a loaded vehicle can be sent to a targeted position with remote control without someone driving the vehicle and hence no need for a suicidal terrorist to sit in the car and go to the target.
• Artificial Intelligence and metaverse are helping the radicals and terrorists propagate their vision, and digital disinformation campaigns influence vulnerable youth in many ways.

Conclusion

It may not be wrong to say that all those electronic gadgets humans are innovating to support humanity for an easy life, the devil in terrorists is using the same device for destruction. In their digital monthly pieces, both ISIS and Al Qaida have repeatedly spoken against India.

The two-day meeting of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in India ended last weekend with just the adoption of a non-binding document baptized as "Delhi Declaration". Hope against hope is that the counter-terrorism convention is adopted at the earliest. Much spade work is still needed.

We all agree that the conference in New Delhi has laid the foundation for the way ahead. Still, we should also not forget how China continues to veto any issue related to terrorism in India at the UN and other international platforms. It will continue to remain a challenge for India.