UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee plans open briefing in Dec on outcome of Special Meeting held in India

United Nations, Nov 23 (PTI) The UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee is planning to organise an open briefing next month on the outcome of its Special Meeting held in India in October, highlighting its achievements, committee Chair India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj said on Wednesday.

Kamboj, in her briefing to the UN Security Council in her capacity as 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.

The discussions at the special meeting were focused on the increasing threat posed by the use for terrorist purposes of three significant technologies - the Internet and social media; new payment technologies and fundraising methods; and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), including drones.

The Committee members also paid tribute to all victims of terrorism, including the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks in India.

Kamboj said 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.

"Among the listed items in the Declaration is 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 further assist Member States in the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes,” she said.

Kamboj added that as part of its "commitment to both prioritise and emphasise its work on these issues, the Committee is planning to organise an open briefing on the outcome of the Special Meeting early next month, where it will highlight its achievements." India will assume the rotating presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council next month, ending its 2021-22 tenure as non-permanent member of the powerful UN body.

Kamboj said the Counter-Terrorism Committee also intends to organise a closed briefing on integrating gender into counter-terrorism responses next month.

She told the Council that while participating in the high-level international conference on counter terrorism in Central Asia in March 2022, the Chair of the CTC underlined the high terrorist threat in Central Asia due to returning foreign terrorist fighters and developments in Afghanistan, and that the “ties between the Taliban, largely through Haqqanis, and Al-Qaida and foreign terrorist fighters remained close.” She said since terrorist threat in the region continues to remain high, the Committee is scheduled to organise an open briefing on Central Asia next month.

"As the terrorist threat continues to persist and grow, particularly in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and several parts of Africa, the Counter Terrorism Committee has paid particular focus on these regions,” Kamboj said.

The Committee has also focused on other thematic areas, such as countering terrorist narratives and preventing and countering the use of the Internet and new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, inviting the participation of civil society in briefings and open meetings of CTC, underscoring the importance of protection of human rights while countering terrorism as well as incorporating the full equal and meaningful participation of women into counter-terrorism responses, over the past year. PTI YAS ZH ZH ZH