UNSC Joint Briefing by the Chairs of the 1267/1373/1540 Committees to the Security Council

(23 November 2022)

India Statement

Mr. President,

At the outset, I wish to thank the delegations of Norway and Mexico for their work as the Heads of the Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267, 1989 and 2253 concerning ISIL/Da’esh, Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, and the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540, concerning non-proliferation, respectively, and their briefings to the Council. These Committees, along with the Counter Terrorism Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373, are the pillars of the Security Council’s counter-terrorism architecture.

2.    In the past two decades, this counter terrorism architecture has contributed to curbing the activities of terrorist groups and individuals by limiting their access to funds and weapons, disrupting their movements, and putting in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure that member states implement the decisions of the Security Council aimed at countering terrorism. The Council has adopted several landmark counter terrorism related resolutions — such as resolution 2178 (2014), 2462 (2019) and 2482 (2019) — as well as resolution 2593 (2021), during India’s presidency of the Council in August last year - to ensure that Afghan territory is not used for sheltering, training, planning, or financing terrorist acts. 

3.    However, terrorism continues to pose a grave threat to international peace and security, as ISIL and Al-Qaida affiliated and inspired terrorist groups, particularly in Asia and Africa continue to operate targeting civilians and security forces. Lest we forget, in November 2008, 10 terrorists entered the city of Mumbai through sea route from Pakistan, ravaging the city for 4 days, killing 166 people, including 26 foreign nationals. 

4.    Our efforts to sanction the perpetrators, and facilitators of these terror attacks were blocked in the past for political reasons. These actors continue to walk free and have been organizing further cross-border attacks against my country. 

5.    The work of the 1267 Committee relies on that of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which in its recent report to 1988 Committee highlighted the continued threat posed by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad. We thank the Team for its reports and hope that the Team will continue to report the activities of these groups, including in its periodic reports to 1267 Committee. While these entities were listed under the 1267 sanctions regime more than a decade back, there is need to keep monitoring their activities as they have been allowed to operate under various aliases with state sponsored hospitality.

6.    In this context, I would like to recall the clarion call of our External Affairs Minister to this Council last year, through his 8-point action plan, which also highlighted the need for reform of the working methods of the Security Council Sanctions Committees in order to ensure greater transparency, accountability and effectiveness in the working of these Committees. He had called for ending the practice of placing blocks and holds on listing requests without any rhyme or reason and ensuring that listing and delisting of individuals and entities under the UN sanctions regimes is done objectively, based on evidence and not on political considerations. The Council needs to pay attention to these action points, else credibility of these committees and our collective faith in them will only get gradually eroded.

7.    As the Chair of the Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC) for 2022, India made all efforts to ensure that the Committee is able to deliver its mandate effectively. I have highlighted the activities and the achievements of the CTC in the past one year, in my statements as the Chair for briefing the Security Council. The CTC, in the past one year, was able to underscore the risk posed by the existing as well as expanding terrorist threats in Asia and Africa, and the need for providing capacity building assistance to risk-prone member states, as well as ensuring effective actions by member states to curb the activities of terrorist groups operating from the territories under their control. It is important that terror-risk prone jurisdictions bring their CFT (Combating Financing of Terrorism) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) frameworks at par with the international standards, including those standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). We commend CTC and CTED (Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate) for their efforts to involve FATF and other such international financial ‘watchdogs’ in the activities of the CTC and CTED. 

8.    The Government of India had the honor to host a special meeting of the CTC in Mumbai and New Delhi last month. In Mumbai, the CTC members paid tribute to the victims of terrorist attacks, including Mumbai terror attacks, had the opportunity to listen to the victims’ experience of attacks, stories of their resilience and their expectation from the international community, including from the UN Security Council. The meeting in Delhi highlighted the threat posed by use of new and emerging technologies such as social media, encryption messaging services, virtual currencies, blockchain technologies, mobile money wallets, drones etc. by terrorist groups and an urgent need for the Security Council to address this threat in a comprehensive and holistic manner. The Delhi Declaration embodies the Council’s collective determination to pay attention to this threat and further develop guidance for member states to address this threat. We are confident that UAE, as the incoming Chair of the CTC, would continue to build on these initiatives. I would like to thank the CTED team for their cooperation and contribution in the substantive work of the Committee and in facilitating the effective functioning of the Chair. 

Mr. President,

10.    Turning to the 1540 Committee, this is an important component of the global non-proliferation architecture aimed at curbing the threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery, and related materials, equipment, and technology, by non-State actors, including terrorist groups. The Committee should also take into account the rapid evolution of proliferation risks, due to new and emerging technologies increasing the risks of WMD access, by terrorist groups and other non-state actors. Let me reaffirm that my delegation accords high importance to resolution 1540 (2004) and the work of the 1540 Committee, and its ongoing negotiations for the renewal of the mandate of the Committee.

11.    I would like to conclude by reiterating our full support to the work of the three committees in their collective pursuit to address the threat posed by terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as well as their means of delivery.

I thank you.

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