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Measures to eliminate international terrorism Mr. Chairman, India attaches the highest importance to the
present agenda item relating to ‘Measures to Eliminate International
Terrorism’ and has been consistently raising this issue at the United
Nations and other international forums for the last several years. Mr. Chairman, as the External Affairs Minister of
my country had emphasised in the General Assembly, terrorism is the great
global menace of our age, it is the very anti-thesis of all that the
United Nations represents and stands for, and violates the basic precepts
of democracy and civilized living. It also constitutes a grave threat to
international peace and security, particularly when terrorists are armed,
financed and backed by Governments or their agencies, and benefit from the
protection of State power. It brings in its wake other attendant global
ills such as narco-trafficking, crime and money-laundering which threaten
a healthy social and political evolution of the global society. For well
over a decade, my country has been subjected to a sustained campaign of
cross-border terrorism, sponsored from across our borders, which has taken
the lives of thousands of our citizens, and ruined those of countless
others. We have sent a detailed response to the Secretary General’s
request for information on the implementation of the Declaration on
Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism; this has been included in
his Report on this agenda item contained in document A/54/301. India is a party to all the multilateral
conventions on international terrorism. In addition to the information
contained in the Secretary General’s Report, India has ratified the
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, 1997
on 22nd September ‘99. India has also acceded to the 1988 Convention for
the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation,
and its Protocol on Fixed Platforms, and to the International Convention
on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection. Mr. Chairman, during the general debate this year,
the need for international cooperation to combat, limit and eliminate
terrorism was emphasised by several Heads of State and Foreign Ministers,
who referred to it as the scourge of mankind. The Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of the five permanent members of the Security Council, in their
statement of 23 September ‘99, also recognised the threat posed by
terrorism to the lives and well-being of ordinary peoples worldwide and to
the peace and security of all States, and called on all States to
strengthen international cooperation, under United Nations aegis, to fight
terrorism in all its forms, including denial of safe havens and to prevent
and suppress in their territories the preparation and financing of any
acts of terrorism. The Declaration on Measures to Eliminate
International Terrorism, adopted by General Assembly resolution 49/60 in
1994, was the first significant step taken by the United Nations in the
fight against terrorism. It was the first comprehensive standard-setting
instrument at the international level which unequivocally condemned
terrorism and declared that all States must recognise that acts of
terrorism are simply criminal and cannot be justified under any
circumstances and for whatever consideration. It obliged States to refrain
from organising, instigating, assisting or participating in terrorist acts
in the territory of other States, and acquiescing in or encouraging,
within their territory, activities directed towards the commission of such
acts. States must ensure that their territories are not used for terrorist
installations or training camps or for the preparation or organisation of
terrorist acts intended to be committed against other States or their
citizens. The Declaration made clear that no considerations
of political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any
other nature can justify an act of terrorism. Unfortunately, the
Declaration is flouted by some States which continue to sponsor, finance
and provide arms to terrorists. It is necessary to implement the
Declaration sincerely and to operationalise the standards it has set
effectively. The General Assembly, at its 51st session, decided
to establish an Ad hoc Committee on terrorism, with the mandate to
elaborate, first, a Convention for the suppression of terrorist bombings,
then a Convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism and,
finally, a comprehensive legal framework on international terrorism. We
supported this approach as representing a package whose ultimate aim was
to ensure a comprehensive convention against international terrorism. We
also supported the proposal made by France at the 53rd session on a draft
convention for suppression of terrorist financing, on the understanding
that the next item to be taken up by the Ad hoc Committee would be
India’s proposal for a comprehensive international convention. Mr. Chairman, the first step in this sequence was
completed with the adoption of the International Convention for the
Suppression of Terrorist Bombings by the General Assembly on 15 December
97. As the second step, last year the Ad hoc Committee
and the Working Group of the Sixth Committee reached agreement on most of
the provisions of the draft Convention against Nuclear Terrorism on the
basis of a draft text proposed by the Russian Federation. We strongly
favour the adoption of the Convention and urge early resolution of the
outstanding issues in a spirit of accommodation and in the overall
interest of realizing the ultimate goal of elimination of terrorism. On the third step, the French text for a Convention
for Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the Ad hoc Committee on
Terrorism made significant progress in its meetings in March, and the
Working Group of the Sixth Committee finalized the text last month. We
wanted the Convention to be wider in scope and to contain more direct
provisions to prevent and suppress, at the very earliest stage, financing
of all acts of preparations to commit terrorist acts. However, we welcome
the Convention as another step forward and support the recommendation of
the Working Group that the Sixth Committee approve the draft and submit it
to the General Assembly for adoption. Clearly, Mr. Chairman, what remains is to complete
the package, or take the final step. And, indeed, this is what our leaders
clearly want. Almost all recent meetings of major groupings of States,
whether at the level of Heads of State or Government, or of Foreign
Ministers, have not only identified the phenomenon of terrorism as the
primary global menace, they have also either committed themselves to, or
called for, the strengthening of the international legal framework to
counter and contain it. For instance, as a selective listing: ·
The XII Nonaligned Summit,
held in Durban last year, "called for the urgent conclusion and the
effective implementation of a comprehensive international convention for
combating terrorism" (A/53/667). The Ministerial Meeting of the
Nonaligned, held in New York in September this year, reiterated this call
(A/54/469). ·
The Heads of State and
Government of the member States of the Organisation of African Unity,
meeting in July this year, adopted the Algiers Declaration which called
for effective and efficient international cooperation to combat terrorism
"through a speedy conclusion of a Global International Convention for
the Prevention and Control of Terrorism in all its forms and the convening
of an International Summit Conference under the auspices of the UN to
consider this phenomenon and the means to combat it" (A/54/424). ·
The first Summit of the Heads
of State and Government of Latin America and the Caribbean and the
European Union, held in Rio de Janeiro in June this year, adopted a set of
"Priorities for Action", among which they committed themselves
to "intensify international cooperation to combat terrorism, based on
the principles established in the framework of the United Nations
Organisation", and "to advance in the signing and ratification
of the conventions and protocols of the UN and to strengthen the
international legal framework on the subject, supporting the elaboration
of instruments to fight terrorism" (A/54/448). ·
The Foreign Ministers of the
Commonwealth of Independent States, meeting in Yalta in October this year,
issued a statement which called for "compliance with international
conventions against terrorism and the continuation of work to strengthen
the international legal system for combating terrorism" (A/54/519). Strengthened by this global consensus, Mr.
Chairman, and in accordance with the step by step approach towards drawing
up a comprehensive framework of legal instruments to combat international
terrorism, we must now proceed to the third step of Resolution 51/210,
namely, the elaboration of a comprehensive convention on international
terrorism. This General Assembly must give a mandate for negotiations to
begin. India has already submitted a draft text, circulated as document
A/C.6/51/6. At the last General Assembly session in 1998, a revised draft
had been circulated informally to delegations for their views. We look
forward to working with all delegations and will present a revised text,
taking their views into account, which we hope would be able to form a
basis for reaching consensus. |