Some Countries 'Clearly Guilty' Of Financing, Aiding Terror, Should Be Called Out: India At UN

At UNSC, India emphasised the need to call out the countries that provide financial assistance and safe havens to terrorists in light of the continuous expansion of terrorist groups.

New Delhi: India has said the international community should collectively call out and hold accountable the countries that are "clearly guilty" of aiding terrorism and providing safe havens to them.

Rajesh Parihar, First Secretary to India’s Permanent Mission to UN, made the comments on Thursday while speaking at the UNSC’s special joint meeting on Terrorist Financing Threats and Trends and the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 2462.

“India is committed to support and strengthen UN efforts to assist member states lacking Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) capacities by providing financial support,” Parihar was quoted as saying in an ANI report.

He added: “Continuous expansion of terrorist groups is a reality check for all of us that despite Security Council resolution 2462 to counter the financing of terrorism (CFT), its implementation by the member states remains challenging for reasons including the lack of political will.” 

Parihar also talked about new technologies that are exploited by the terror groups to collect funding. “Misuse of blockchain technology, virtual/cryptocurrencies, digital crowdsourcing, prepaid phone cards, etc have posed new risks to CFT efforts. The proliferation of fake charities and fake non-profit organisations (NPOs) during the Covid pandemic has further exacerbated this risk,” he said.

In a veiled attack at Pakistan over funding terror groups, Parihar said: "The global implementation survey of resolution 1373, adopted by the CTC on November 4 and Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) latest report (October 2021) on 'Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring', highlights the continued terror-finance risk due to lack of action by a country in our neighbourhood.”

Quoting Parihar, a PTI report said: “Preventing terrorists from accessing financial resources is crucial to successfully countering the threat of terrorism. While some states lack the legal operational frameworks and necessary Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) capabilities, there are other states that are clearly guilty of aiding and supporting terrorism and willfully providing financial assistance and safe havens to terrorists. While we must enhance the capacities of the former, the international community must collectively call out the latter and hold them accountable for their deeds.” 

He added: “An effective multilateral approach to CFT, built on PPP to identify and mitigate new terror-financing risks, strengthening support to financial watchdogs such as FATF to ensure that member states bring their counter-financing structures at par with international standards are needs of the hour today.”