General Assembly Security Council

UN Security Council briefing on “The Use of Digital Technologies in Maintaining International Peace and Security” (23 May 2022)

 

Statement by Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti

Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations

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    Thank you, Madam President. I welcome the initiative of the United States in organising this important briefing. I also thank Under Secretary General Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo and other briefers Ms. Nanjala Nyabola and Mr. Dirk Druet for their valuable insights. 

 

2.     The increasing use of digital technologies has accelerated economic development, improved service delivery to citizens, generated greater social awareness and placed information and knowledge directly in the hands of individuals. They have made governance more inclusive, citizen-centric and transparent. Most activities in this digital-age - political, social, economic, humanitarian and developmental - are now invariably, conducted in or connected to cyberspace. However, given their dual-use nature and susceptibility to harmful uses by both state and non-state actors they can also have a negative impact on international peace and security.

 

3.     The nature of conflict and its underlying tools have transformed tremendously over the decades. While inter-State conflicts still continue, we are witnessing growing threats from non-State actors, including terrorist groups. Similarly, the theaters of war and conflict have also expanded. In addition to the territorial conflicts, the world is facing newer conflicts in seas and space – and by space, I refer to both outer space and cyberspace. Technology has become the common underlying denominator, as well as a game changer, in these conflicts. Our conventional approach to security nationally and internationally therefore needs a reset.

 

4.    I would like to submit the following FIVE issues for this Council’s consideration: 

 

First, the need for addressing the abuse of digital technologies by the terrorist groups to disseminate terrorist ideologies, to radicalize, to incite violence, and to recruit the next generation of terrorist actors taking advantage of the enhanced online presence of young people. Terrorist groups are taking advantage of online tools to build networks, recruit new members, procure weapons, and secure logistical support. The digital communications methods used by these groups are organized and sophisticated. They have become adept at using gaming chat rooms, dark web and other restricted access sites and unregulated online space to spread propaganda and incite violence. There have been instances of terrorists live-streaming their attacks on major platforms to maximize publicity and impact. 

 

The wide outreach of online space has enabled the terrorist groups to take advantage of the openness of pluralistic democratic societies, like our own, by fueling societal divisions, sectarian hatred and support anti-democratic movements and radical ideologies aimed at destabilizing governments and state institutions. 

 

The ability of terrorist actors to connect, communicate, and share information, over the digital platforms only underscores the growing need to regulate such inflammatory content online. Equally needed is to address the legal challenges in bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice, particularly due to the remote nature of their involvement in terrorist activities. While we are used to looking at terrorism as a direct physical attack by the perpetrators, in the digital domain, the perpetrators inciting the terrorist acts through hateful content and radical ideologies may be far from the actors actually committing the act of terror. The instigators should be equally held responsible for such acts of terror. They cannot be less culpable than those who commit the act of terror. This is essential when we consider terrorism in the cyber domain.

 

Emergence of new financial technologies such as New Payment Methods, virtual currencies, online fundraising methods, including direct donations, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crowd-funding platforms and the ease of access, anonymity and intractability offered by them have enabled terrorist entities to collect and transfer funds evading the monitoring and enforcement structures. NPMs such as prepaid phone cards, online payment services, virtual money have enabled terrorist groups to exchange them in the form of gold, silver and other metals and most recently, mobile phone payments and fund terrorist activities. Prepaid cards are frequently used as an alternative to cash. Use of bitcoins for funding terror activities is also well established. Besides, terrorist misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing for various terrorist purposes, which have a global reach, also demands our immediate attention.  

 

The need for Member States to comprehensively address and tackle the implications of terrorist exploitation of the digital technologies more strategically has never been more dire. In this regard, I am happy to inform this Council that India has proposed holding a special meeting of the Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee in India soon, which will exclusively focus on this issue and attempt to provide the way forward.

 

Second, some States are leveraging their expertise in digital domain to achieve their political and security-related objectives and indulge in contemporary forms of cross-border terrorism, attacks on critical national infrastructure, including health and energy facilities, and disrupt social harmony through promoting radicalization through the online space. Open societies, including democracies like ours, have been particularly vulnerable to such threats and disinformation campaigns. Emerging digital technologies, for instance the use of machine learning and big data, have the potential to enhance the lethality of such acts, thus posing a considerable threat to international peace and security. There international community cannot take a selective approach and needs to avoid double standards, when it comes to addressing these threats.

 

Third, the inter-connected nature of the digital domain requires that solutions to the complex problems and threats emanating from this domain cannot be resolved in isolation. There is an underlying need to adopt a collaborative rules-based approach and work towards ensuring its openness, stability and security. Fostering equitable access to digital technologies and its benefits should also form an important component of this approach. The widening "Digital Divide”, “Digital gender-divide” and "Digital knowledge gaps” create an unsustainable environment in the cyber domain. Growing digital dependency in the post-COVID era has exacerbated risks and exposed these fissures of digital inequalities. These must be bridged through capacity building and technology transfers. 

 

Fourth, UN peacekeeping missions need to be equipped with latest digital technologies to counter those employed by armed groups. Protecting the protectors should be as much our priority as protecting the civilians. We have acted on this front by rolling out in partnership with the UN the UNITE AWARE platform during our Presidency of the Council in August last year. This software program provides real time threat assessment to peacekeepers and needs to be scaled up across all UN Peacekeeping Missions. I thank France for referring to the Presidential Statement on Technology and Peacekeeping adopted under our Presidency last year. 

 

Fifth, maintaining international peace and security in the cyber space also depends on exchange of information among countries on misuse of digital technologies for committing crimes. And this cooperation needs to be effective and in real time in order to deter, disrupt and mitigate such misuse. The establishment of the UN Ad Hoc Committee to elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on countering the use of information communication technology for criminal purposes is therefore a step in the right direction.

 

5.    In conclusion, let me reiterate again that the global community needs to leverage digital technologies for the benefit of the entire humankind and not for a select few. Our overarching objective should be to harness such technologies for the development, prosperity and empowerment of all people and to promote international peace and security. India stands ready to offer its expertise and share its experience in this shared endeavor.

 

 I thank you Madam President.

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