Baku (Azerbaijan), Oct 23
Describing terrorism is the single biggest threat to international peace, security and development, India on Wednesday urged Non Aligned Member partners to renew the commitment to finalise the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) and mobilise the international community towards achieving the goal.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, addressing a Ministerial Meeting ahead of the 18th Non-Aligned Movement Summit, said in 1996, India proposed a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in order to further strengthen the existing legal frameworks. "Two decades on, we have made little progress. We urge our NAM partners to renew the commitment to finalise the CCIT, and to mobilise the international community towards this goal.
"The growing linkages between terrorist groups and cross-border operations including terror financing networks, and the spread of hateful ideologies through modern communication technologies have left no country untouched by this scourge," he said, without naming Pakistan.
Jaishankar said the NAM's fight against terrorism has to be fought collectively and across all fronts. "The international community cannot afford selective approaches or double standards on this issue.
"We must boost collective efforts for cooperation among Member States to confront the scourge of terrorism, including through exchange of information and best practices, preventing misuse of modern technologies, monitoring illicit financial flows and cooperating in investigation and judicial procedures," he said.
Jaishankar said India, as a proud founding member, remains committed to the principles and objectives of the NAM, including the longstanding solidarity and support for the Palestinian cause.
He said the world has moved on from what the NAM founding leaders faced in Bandung in 1955. "The scales of global geo-political balance have shifted, and continue to do so, propelled by forces of globalisation and transformational technological progress. Long-held assumption and alignments rooted in the legacies of colonialism and the ideology of the Cold War are making way for new configurations and partnerships".
He said the world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. "Climate change, environmental degradation, terrorism, radicalisation, poverty, public health emergencies, humanitarian and natural calamities, cyber security threats, and the serious security implications of frontier technologies are just some of the challenges of this new world."
"These challenges can only be faced together, not when we are divided. It requires collaboration, not coercion. In short, effective multi-lateralism remains the only answer. And that requires all of us to be truly independent and think for ourselves," he said.
He also called for early and meaningful reform of the United Nations, and in particular, the Security Council. "We reiterate in this context our support for Africa's Common Position on Security Council Reforms, entailing an expansion in both categories of Council membership. We welcome the support expressed by NAM for this position in the Final Document. The time has come now to move on to the next phase, and commence text based negotiations - a demand supported by a majority of UN members, including most NAM members. We hope that we will finally see concrete reform of the UN in its 75th anniversary year," he said.
