New Delhi: United Nations counterterrorism committee on Saturday unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration, focusing on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, and reaffirmed that terrorism in all forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.
The Delhi Declaration was adopted by the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, which held a special meeting in India focused on new and emerging technologies.
With the adoption of the Delhi Declaration, India decided to work on recommendations on the three themes of the CTC special meeting, namely -- "Countering Terrorist Exploitation of ICT and Emerging Technologies", "Threats and opportunities related to new payment technologies and fundraising methods" and "Threats posed by the misuse of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by terrorists".
India expressed determination to contribute further to enhancing the effectiveness of the overall effort to fight this scourge on a global level. It also reaffirmed that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.
The declaration noted, with concern, the increased use of the internet and other information and communications technologies, including social media platforms, for terrorist purposes.
Moreover, it recognized that innovations in financial technologies such as crowdfunding platforms present a risk of being misused for terrorist financing. It also expressed concern over the increasing global misuse of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by terrorists to conduct attacks against critical infrastructure. In view of this, Urged all Member States to ensure zero tolerance towards terrorism, consistent with their obligations under international laws.
India, through the Delhi Declaration, emphasized the need for Member States and CTED to continue voluntary cooperation with the private sector and civil society, including women and women's organizations, for more effective means to counter the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
It recognized the efforts of the United Nations-affiliated Tech Against Terrorism initiative to foster collaboration with representatives of the technology industry, including smaller technology companies, civil society, academia, and Government, to disrupt terrorists' ability to use the Internet in furtherance of terrorist purposes, while also respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms; took note of the industry-led Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) initiatives.
Moreover, the country also stressed the need to effectively counter the ways of ISIL, also known as Daesh and Al-Qaida, and their affiliates, to incite and recruit others to commit terrorist acts. Condemned the continued flow of weapons, military equipment, UAS and their components, and improvised explosive devices IEDs.
India also recognized the ongoing work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concerning virtual assets and virtual assets service providers.
FATF has taken action to respond to the very real risk that legitimate services offered by virtual asset service providers (virtual assets like blockchain, bitcoin, crypto assets, and virtual currencies) will be abused by criminals and terrorists to launder money and finance terrorist acts.
