MEA Jaishankar underlines threat posed by terrorism at UNSC meet
New Delhi: India on Saturday cautioned the world about the possible implications of misuse of new technologies such as encrypted messaging and crypto-currency by "non-state actors" in absence of adequate regulatory mechanism with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking united global efforts to deal with the challenge.
In an address at a special meeting of the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), Jaishankar said the social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the "toolkit" of terror networks and that the terror groups, their "ideological fellow-travellers" and "lone wolf" attackers have significantly enhanced capabilities by gaining access to new technologies.
Reaffirming India's commitment to combat terrorism, he also announced that New Delhi would make a voluntary contribution of half a million dollars in the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism this year.
The external affairs minister also said the counter-terror sanction regime of the United Nations has been effective to put countries on notice that turned terrorism into a "state-funded enterprise", seen as an apparent reference to Pakistan.
Representatives from all 15 member nations of the UN Security Council attended the second and final day's meeting in Delhi on Saturday, a day after the first day's events in Mumbai.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in message to the meet, called for concerted global efforts to deal with the challenge of the use of new technologies by various terror groups. "Terrorists and others posing hateful ideologies are abusing new and emerging technologies to spread disinformation, foment discord, recruit and radicalise (people), mobilise resources and execute attacks," he said in his message that was read out at the meeting.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the international community must work together to "starve" terrorists of the finance and emerging technologies".
In his remarks, Jaishankar said the technological innovations of the past two decades have been transformative in the way the world functions and the new and emerging technologies -- from virtual private networks, and encrypted messaging services to blockchain and virtual currencies -- are offering a very promising future in the economic and social sectors.
However, he said there is a flip side to it, especially where terrorism is concerned.
"These very technologies have also thrown up new challenges for the governments and regulatory bodies due to their potential vulnerability for misuse by non-state actors, given the very nature of some of these technologies and the nascent regulatory environment," Jaishankar said.
"In recent years, terrorist groups, their ideological fellow-travellers, particularly in open and liberal societies and 'lone wolf' attackers have significantly enhanced their capabilities by gaining access to these technologies," he added.
