Permanent Mission of India
New York
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Adoption of the Ninth Review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

Statement by Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, Permanent Representative
1 July 2026

Mr President,

At the outset, we thank the co-facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Finland and Morocco for their valuable efforts in steering an extremely complex negotiation and for seeking to preserve consensus on an issue that must remain above politics. We also acknowledge the role of all UN Compact entities in supporting Member States throughout this process as well as for their very important role in the implementation of the Strategy.

2. The adoption of this review comes at an important moment. Twenty years ago, Member States came together to adopt the GCTS. In doing so, the international community affirmed that terrorism is a threat to humanity, and it can only be defeated through international cooperation.

3. India called for adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) a decade before GCTS was first adopted in 2006. The absence of a universally agreed legal framework continues to hobble collective action against terrorism. This legal instrument is essential to close normative gaps, strengthen prosecution and extradition, and deny terrorists and their sponsors access to safe havens, funds and arms. Nearly three decades of delay has hindered our collective efforts to combat terrorism. The time has come to demonstrate political will to conclude the CCIT.

4. India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for decades. Our people have paid the price of terrorism in lives lost, families scarred and societies shattered. This experience has shaped India’s approach: there can be no justification for terrorism. Irrespective of any grievance, political cause or strategic calculation, terrorism in all its forms and manifestations must be condemned unequivocally.

Mr President,

5. As we adopt the Ninth Review, India would like to underline six key priorities.

First, the international community must reject double standards in counter-terrorism. There is an obligation to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. Member states should ensure full cooperation in this regard.

Second, countering terror financing must remain central to our collective efforts. The international community must improve financial intelligence sharing, strengthen implementation of FATF standards, and ensure that no jurisdiction remains a safe conduit for terror financing.

Third,  misuse of new and emerging technologies by terrorists demands urgent attention. Terrorist groups are exploiting advanced encrypted communications, drones, autonomous weapons, social media, mountain trekking and other specialized mapping apps, online radicalization, artificial intelligence, deepfakes, virtual assets and the dark web. These technologies are evolving faster than regulatory and enforcement frameworks. India supports a safe, secure, trusted and accessible digital ecosystem, while ensuring that terrorists are denied the tools for their nefarious acts. It is disheartening in this regard that negotiations of this review of the GCTS were not able to reach an acceptable landing point on this important topic.

Fourth, the victims of terrorism must remain at the heart of our efforts. Too often, the international system speaks of terrorism in institutional or procedural terms, while the voices of victims are an afterthought and receive little multilateral coverage. Efforts must be strengthened to give them the dignity and rehabilitation that they deserve

Fifth,  international cooperation and capacity building efforts must be practical, demand-driven and as per the requirements of the benefiting country. Global South countries require assistance in specific areas and imposition of frameworks on them must be avoided. Capacity-building must respect national ownership, in accordance with priorities of recipient States

Sixth, a terrorist, is a terrorist!!  We must work hand in hand to root out the murderous ideology without finding any grievance to justify terrorism.

Mr President,

6. India has consistently contributed to global CT efforts. We have hosted major international discussions. The Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes; the No Money for Terror Conferences are cases in point. It is a matter of great privilege that the  Delhi Declaration is serving global good and two of its pillars have been implemented as the Abu Dhabi Guiding principles and Algeria Guiding principles. The lack of mention of this landmark declaration in the GCTS in 2023 just reflects the unfortunate situation of how this Assembly is held hostage to petty bean counting!  It is doubly unfortunate when the international community continues to tolerate this behaviour.

7. India has worked to strengthen the global focus on terror financing. We have supported capacity-building initiatives, South-South cooperation, and the strengthening of multilateral frameworks. We remain committed to working with all Member States and the United Nations to ensure that the Strategy is not merely reviewed every two years, but is actually implemented.

8. At the same time, India believes that the Strategy must remain faithful to its core purpose. Counter-terrorism should not be hollowed out by false equivalences or politicized narratives. We must address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, but we must never confuse context with justification. We must uphold human rights and the rule of law, but we must also recognize that the first human right is the right to life, and terrorism is the most direct assault on this human right.

9. India reiterates its position that we condemn all acts motivated by prejudice directed against any faith or any other attribute such as ethnicity, nationality, geography, race, etc. As this is the United Nations, a multilateral forum of universal membership, our lens too should be universal. While we condemn all acts motivated by Islamophobia, Christianphobia and antisemitism, this august body must acknowledge that such phobias extend to other faiths as well.

Mr. President,

10. The Ninth Review is an opportunity to renew our collective resolve even though negotiations were not able to reach any consensus. Consensus is valuable, but consensus must also be meaningful. It must lead to implementation, accountability and measurable progress.

11. India stands ready to work with all Member States to strengthen the global counter-terrorism architecture, to deny safe haven to terrorists, to disrupt their financing, to prevent their misuse of technology, to support victims, and to ensure that the United Nations speaks with one voice against terrorism.

12. India also is supportive of a more streamlined and more precise resolution with redundancies eliminated while maintaining the balance across the four pillars of the GCTS. India is one of the countries which works closely with UNOCT and other UN Compact entities as well as financially contributes to priority areas for capacity building projects in this extremely important domain, as per the needs of the recipient states.

13. Before I close, I find it necessary to recall for all that there are great perils for lacking international cooperation in countering terrorism.

Only if we have the political will to countering it in all its manifestations;

Only if there are no double standards;

Only if there is no distinction between good or bad terrorists;

Only if there is transparency and objectivity in the way sanctions regimes function to secure listings of genuine and evidence based objective listing proposals;

Only if exclusivist frameworks, new terminologies and false priorities are thwarted;

could the menace of terrorism be successfully combatted by us together.

14. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, Terror anywhere threatens peace everywhere! The world cannot afford ambiguity on terrorism. The victims of terrorism deserve justice. Future generations deserve security. And this General Assembly must provide leadership.
15. We sincerely hope that better sense prevails!

I thank you.