India’s Annual Resolution on Counter-Terror

Why in News

Recently, India’s annual resolution on the issue of counter-terrorism was adopted by consensus in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Key Points

  • India’s resolution ‘Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction’ was co-sponsored by more than 75 countries and adopted by consensus without a vote.
    • India, a victim of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism, has been at the forefront in highlighting the serious threat to international peace and security emanating from acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorist groups.
  • India’s resolution predates the adoption of resolution 1540 by the Security Council.
    • In resolution 1540 of the year 2004, the Security Council decided that all States shall refrain from providing any form of support to non-State actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery, in particular for terrorist purposes.
  • It needs to be noted that the UN has not agreed on a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) yet.
    • In 1996, with the objective of providing a comprehensible legal framework to counter terrorism, India proposed to the UNGA the adoption of the "Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism” (CCIT).
    • CCIT seeks a universal definition of terrorism, prosecution of terrorists under special laws, making cross-border terrorism an extraditable offence worldwide, among others.
  • Weapon of Mass Destruction:
    • WMD refers to a weapon with the capacity to inflict death and destruction on such a massive scale and so indiscriminately that its very presence in the hands of a hostile power can be considered a grievous threat.
    • Modern weapons of mass destruction are either nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons—frequently referred to collectively as NBC weapons.
    • Efforts to control the spread of WMD are enshrined in international agreements such as the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty of 1968, the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972, and the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
      • India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty of 1968.
    • India has enacted an act to prohibit unlawful activities, in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems which is known as The Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of unlawful activities) Act, 2005.

United Nations General Assembly

  • UNGA is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, serving as the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN.
    • UN is an international organization founded in 1945. It is currently made up of 193 Member States.
    • The other five organs of the UN are: Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN Secretariat.

First Committee of the UNGA

  • The First Committee (Disarmament and International security) deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security regime.
  • The Committee works in close cooperation with the United Nations Disarmament Commission and the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament. It is the only Main Committee of the General Assembly entitled to verbatim records coverage.

Source:IE