The BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan has been finalized at the sixth meeting of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group.
Context
The BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan has been finalized at the sixth meeting of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group.
About theCounter-Terrorism Action Plan
- The planwill strengthen the counter-terror cooperation among members of the BRICS grouping.
- Action Plan will help in bringing “result-oriented cooperation” among the BRICS member states.
- The plan contains specific measures to implement BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy which was adopted by BRICS Leaders in 2020.
- The document will help to increase intra-BRICS collaboration for combating terrorism, radicalization, financing of terrorism and cyber-crime, etc.
- It will also help to curb the travel of terrorists, to strengthen border control, and protect soft targets.
India’s measures to fight against terrorism
Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT)
- This was proposed by India in 1996.
- The ratification of the CCIT is pending due to opposition from the US and OIS countries
- CCIT provides a legal framework to make it binding on all signatories to deny funds and safe havens to terrorist groups.
- This includesthe following major objectives:
- To have a universal definition for terrorism
- To ban all the terror groups and shutting down the terror camps
- To prosecute all the terrorists under special laws
- To make cross-border terrorism an extraditable offense worldwide
National Investigation Agency (NIA)
- This is India’s counter-terrorist task force.
- The agency is empowered to deal with the terror related crimes across states without any special permission from states.
- NIA came into existence through the enactment of National Investigation Agency Act 2008, after the deadly 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
- On June 25, 2010, India became the 34th country member of FATF.
International efforts to counter-terrorism
- UN Resolution 1373 and 1535 – These resolutions were passed in 2001and 2004 respectively and were concerned with the formation of the counter-terrorism Committee.
- United Nations Security Council resolution 1267: This was in 1999. Through the resolution, the Council designated Osama Bin Laden and his associates as terrorists and established sanctions to cover individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
- UN Convention on Counter-Terrorism (UNCCT):This provides support to the Member States and regional organizations for the development of counter-terrorism strategies. The convention was supported by ‘Bogota principles’ that were developed in 2013 as part of one of the first UNCCT projects.
- UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy: The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is composed of 4 pillars, namely:
- To address the conditions which are conducive to the spread of terrorism
- Measures to prevent and combat terrorism
- Measures to build states’ capacity for the prevention and combat terrorism,efforts to strengthen the role of the United Nations
- Measures to ensure respect for human rights
- Financial Action Task Force (FATF): The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental financial watchdog.It develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.It is consisting of 39 countries with major financial centers in Europe, North and South America, and Asia and two international organizations have proposed a set of 40 recommendations to combat money laundering. FATF has developed the FATF Standards to ensure a coordinated global response to prevent organized crime, corruption, and terrorism.
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