8th time in UNSC, India’s agenda is war on terror

New Delhi

India will work with all member countries to promote global peace, security, resilience and equity, he said.

India garnered 184 votes out of the 192 ballots cast in the General Assembly to win the election for the non-permanent seat in the powerful Security Council. India’s two-year term will begin on January 1, 2021. This is the eighth time that India will sit at the UN high-table, which comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members.

“Deeply grateful for the overwhelming support shown by the global community for India’s membership of the UN Security Council,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter. India will work with all member countries to promote global peace, security, resilience and equity, he said. India hopes to use its two-year term in the powerful UNSC to bolster the framework on terrorism to address issues such as the misuse of information and communications technology by terrorist groups and stem the flow of terror financing, the country’s envoy to the UN has said.

India has always been advocating a “zero tolerance” approach to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said after India overwhelmingly won the election to the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member.

Terrorism to be one of our main priorities: Tirumurti
“Terrorism is naturally going to be one of our main priorities during our term on the Council,” he said.

Along with India, Norway, Ireland and Mexico will also join the UNSC as the non-permanent members.

Tirumurti said India hopes to use its term in the UNSC “to strengthen normative and operative frameworks on terrorism to strengthen the multilateral system to address issues such as misuse of information and communications technology by terrorist entities, disrupt the nexus with sponsors and stemming the flow of terrorist finance.

“The world shares our concern. The UN itself has recognised this when it set up the UN Office of counter-terrorism in 2016,” he said.

IAt the UN, India has given a clarion call for strengthening the efforts to adopt the long-pending global convention on international terrorism. India proposed a draft document on the CCIT at the UN in 1986, but it has not been implemented as there is no unanimity on the definition of terrorism among the member states.