1. India to contribute 5 lakh dollars to the UN Trust Fund for Counter terrorisms
Tags: Summits
The Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar has announced on 29 October 2022 that India will contribute $ 5, 00,000 to the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism efforts to counter global terrorism.
He was speaking at the special session of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee being hosted by India. It is for the first time that the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting is being held outside New York, United States.
First Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting held outside New York
India is at present the chairman of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee and it hosted the two day meeting at Mumbai and New Delhi on 28 October and 29 October respectively.
The meeting started on 28 October 2022 in Mumbai which witnessed a massive terror attack in 2008 that left 140 Indian nationals and 26 citizens of 23 other countries dead by terrorists who had entered India from Pakistan.
The meeting moved to New Delhi on 29 October for its final session.
Focus area of the Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting
The discussion focused on three areas:
- Internet and social media;
- financing for global terror networks; and
- The proliferation of unmanned aerial systems, such as drones.
Participants of the meeting
According to the Ministry of External Affairs which is hosting the meeting, UNSC members, including the 15 present and 5 new non-permanent member who will join the Security Council next year, leading experts from the UN's operational partners and specialized agencies participated in the meeting.
Minister’s speech
Speaking on the occasion the External Affairs Minister warned about the threat posed by the misuse of new and emerging technologies for terror activities, stressing the need for the international community to adopt measures to combat the threats.
“Internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorist and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalization and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilizing societies,” he said in his keynote address.
United Nation Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee
The Counter-Terrorism Committee was established by unanimous consent on 28 September 2001, in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States.
All the 15 Security Council members are part of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.
The Committee is tasked with monitoring the implementation of measures to enhance countries’ legal and institutional counter-terrorism abilities, at every level, locally and internationally.
