BRICS countries express strong condemnation of cross-border terrorism, terror financing

The New Delhi Declaration, adopted by the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa,-- also rejected double standards in countering terrorism and extremism conducive to terrorism, and called for an expeditious finalization and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism within the UN framework.

It also called for cooperation within the Financial Action Task Force and its regional bodies to curb terror financing.

The large section devoted to terrorism, said: “We recognize the threat emanating from terrorism, extremism conducive to terrorism and radicalization. We commit to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, and terrorism financing networks and safe havens.”

It reiterated that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.

The countries reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to contribute further to the global efforts of preventing and countering the threat of terrorism on the basis of respect for international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations, and human rights, emphasizing that States have the primary responsibility in combating terrorism with the United Nations continuing to play central and coordinating role in this area.

It also stressed on the need for a comprehensive and balanced approach of the whole international community to effectively curbing terrorist activities, which pose a serious threat, including in the present-day pandemic environment.

The BRICS countries called for launching multilateral negotiations on an international convention for the suppression of acts of chemical and biological terrorism, at the Conference of Disarmament.

It welcomed the outcome of the Sixth BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) and its subgroups meetings. It endorsed the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan for implementing the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy which was adopted by the National Security Advisors and is aimed at implementing the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

The Counter terrorism Strategy defines the approach and actions of the BRICS countries towards counter-terrorism cooperation, including ensuring coordinated efforts to understand, identify and collaboratively respond to persistent and emerging terrorist threats, as well as cooperation within the framework of the UN and other multilateral counter-terrorism fora.

The BRICS countries reiterated their commitment to combating illicit financial flows (IFFs), money laundering and financing of terrorism and to closely cooperating within the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the FATF-style regional bodies (FSRBs), as well as other multilateral, regional and bilateral fora. We value and encourage the dialogue among BRICS countries in key issue of Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) agenda.

The para on cooperation within the FATF and its regional bodies is significant, in view of Pakistan remaining on the grey list of the FATF due to its failure to act on terror financing and money laundering, and Beijing is a close friend of Islamabad.

The countries also reaffirmed the sole authority of the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions and stressed on the imperative of refraining from any coercive measures not based on international law, in particular the UN Charter.

It called for a further consolidation and strengthening of the working methods of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committees to ensure their effectiveness, responsiveness and transparency and look forward to continuing BRICS engagement on these issues.

It also welcomed the decision of the BRICS NSAs to adopt the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan for the implementation of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Strategy.