Context

A special meeting of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee on ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, was held recently. The meeting was attended by the representatives of all 15 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members.

• Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes. 
• India also gave 5 point suggestion to the committee.

About

About UN Counter-Terrorism Committee

• A dedicated Counter-Terrorism committee of the UNSC was established in 2001, in the aftermath of the 11 September attack against the United States.
• Resolution: The committee was formed after the UNSC resolution of 1373 (2001).
• Members: The Committee is composed of 15 Member States - Albania (2023), Brazil (2023), China, France, Gabon (2023), Ghana (2023), India (2022), Ireland (2022), Kenya (2022), Mexico (2022), Norway (2022), Russian Federation, United Arab Emirates (2023), United Kingdom and United States.
• Thematic Areas: The Counter-Terrorism Committee has a global mandate and focuses on specific thematic areas including Counter-terrorism strategies, countering the financing of terrorism, Border security and arms trafficking, Law enforcement, Human Rights, etc.

Delhi Declaration

• Aim: It aims to cover the main concerns surrounding the abuse of drones, social media platforms, and crowd-funding, and create guidelines that will help to tackle the growing issue.
• Non-binding Document: Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes is a non-binding document.
• Thematic coordination: Members of the Committee will draft recommendations on the three themes- namely
  • Countering terrorist exploitation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
  • Countering terrorism financing 
  • Threats poses by terrorist use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)
• Good practices: A compilation of good practices on the opportunities offered by the same set of technologies to tackle threats will also be issued.

5-point suggestion

India made a 5-point suggestion for the UN Counter-terrorism Committee’s consideration:

• Curb Terror Financing: Effective and sustained efforts at countering terror financing is at the heart of the issue of countering terrorism. Normative efforts at the UN need to be coordinated through collaboration with other fora like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Egmont Group.
• Transparency: We need to ensure the effective and transparent functioning of the Security Council sanctions regime and make sure that they are not rendered ineffective for political reasons.
• International Cooperation: International cooperation and concerted action against terrorists and their sponsors, including through the dismantlement of terrorist safe havens, sanctuaries, training grounds, and financial and ideological as well as political support structures, are critical imperatives to defeat this scourge.
• Terror-crime nexus: Terrorism’s nexus with transnational organized crime, illicit drugs, and arms trafficking is now well established.”
• Technology misuse: Over the years, terrorist groups have diversified their funding portfolio. They have also begun to exploit the anonymity afforded by new and emerging technologies such as virtual currencies for fundraising and finances.