General Assembly General Assembly

Statement by

Ambassador Tanmaya Lal

 Deputy Permanent Representative

on

The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS)

Sixth Biennial Review

United Nations General Assembly

26 June 2018

 

 

Mr. President,

 

  • We thank the delegations of Jordan and Finland in co facilitating the review process that has led to the adoption of this resolution on Global Counter terrorism Strategy by consensus by the UN General Assembly.

 

  • While the adoption of this resolution is by consensus, all of us are conscious that the text primarily reflects only a technical update to the previous GCTS resolution adopted two years ago that marked the end of the first decade of the formulation of the GCTS at the UN.

 

  • While any multilateral resolution has to strike a balance and a compromise, we are disappointed that the resolution does not reflect substantive modifications from its previous version.

 

  • We say this since in the intervening period of two years terrorist networks have continued to terrorise peoples across different parts of the world, expanding their reach; propagating their ideologies of hate; recruiting across borders; raising funds and improving their use of modern technologies. 

 

  • While most of the membership represented here has experienced terror attacks, at the UN we continue to struggle to advance meaningful multilateral cooperation on countering terrorism, often due to narrow political considerations.

 

  • It is disappointing to see the lack of meaningful progress even in a GCTS resolution language, which continues to reflect the inability of member states to act collectively to tackle the threats from non-state actors.

 

  • This clearly does not augur well for our collective security.

 

Mr. President,

 

  • The establishment of the UN Office of Counter Terrorism last year has been a positive development that, we hope, will contribute to consolidation of efforts by the UN system in this context.

 

  • We also welcome the hosting by the OCT of the first ever Summit of Heads of Counter Terrorism agencies that is scheduled for later this week.   

 

  • As part of India's continuing commitment to strengthen multilateral efforts to counter terrorism and support the work of the newly established UN Office for Counter Terrorism, our government has announced a voluntary contribution of US$ 550,000 for the OCT.

 

Mr. President,

 

  • On the GCTS itself, we had hoped for a more honest appraisal of the functioning of the counter-terrorism architecture of the United Nations, including the work on this universal challenge at the Security Council.  

 

  • We had also hoped that member states could agree on focusing on the need to collectively discern the emerging threats and challenges posed by terrorist networks in terms of their use of emerging technologies, recruitment strategies, striking targets across countries.

 

Mr. President,

 

  • The message is clear. We remain far from being able to develop a common understanding and resolve to tackle this global threat with the seriousness and unity of purpose that it requires. We can allow this only at our own peril.

 

  • The threat from terrorist networks is real and growing. A far more determined and non partisan approach will be necessary for this multilateral process to be meaningful.

 

 

Thank you.