The foreign ministers of India, Brazil, and South Africa have called for decisive action against UN-designated terrorist groups.
During a joint statement at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his counterparts emphasized the need to eliminate terrorist safe havens globally and to take coordinated actions against all UN-listed terrorists and entities, including Al-Qaeda* and ISIS/Daesh*.
This collaboration is part of the India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum, established in 2003, which seeks to unite major democracies from the developing world.
“Effective action against terrorism, particularly regarding groups like Al-Qaeda, IS, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, relies on improved global cooperation and intelligence sharing, as there is a significant gap in these areas,” Nishakant Ojha, Cyber Security & Counter Terrorism Expert.
Ojha emphasized that for cooperation to be effective, it needs to be in real-time, necessitating the creation of mechanisms that enable immediate intelligence sharing among nations to detect and prevent terrorist activities before they happen.
The lengthy verification process of intelligence often leads to missed opportunities for action, despite valuable information received from allies, he added.
The April 21 terror attack in Sri Lanka, which killed over 300 people, underscores South Asia's vulnerability to terrorism, alongside other significant incidents like the 2008 Mumbai attack and the 2014 Peshawar school shooting.
The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) indicates that from 1970 to 2017, there were nearly 180,000 terrorist attacks worldwide, as illustrated by the interactive map detailing annual incidents across various regions.
South Asia accounted for 31% of all terrorist attacks globally and 29% of the deaths resulting from these attacks, the report added.
The report indicates a dramatic rise in terrorist attacks in Africa from 330 in 2000 to 2,365 in 2018, coinciding with a substantial increase in military spending, which grew from $10.6 billion to $32.8 billion during the same period.
Both military expenditure and terrorist incidents peaked in 2014, reaching $41.7 billion and 3,086 attacks, while Sub-Saharan Africa represented 48% of global terrorism-related deaths, the report added.
Meanwhile, Ojha stressed the importance of establishing a strong mechanism for tracking cross-border movements, highlighting that the main issues with terrorists revolve around cross-border trafficking, financial transactions, and online recruitment and radicalization efforts.
Although information is frequently accessible, it must be effectively categorized to improve operational efficiency, which involves closing financial system loopholes and enhancing oversight of informal financial networks, the expert proposed.
Ojha noted that the Hawala [Money Laundering] system in India has transitioned from traditional methods to modern practices, now operating digitally, with an increasing reliance on cryptocurrencies that complicates the tracing of transactions back to terrorist groups.
Organizations like the Financial Action Task Force must pressure other countries to dismantle terrorist financing hubs, particularly in certain countries, which provide safe havens for these activities, he reckoned.
The pundit emphasized the importance of addressing online radicalization, particularly the troubling rise of non-traditional radicalization among women, urging governments to work with tech companies to quickly remove terrorist propaganda from platforms like Facebook**, Instagram**, Twitter, and Telegram for effective action.
Ojha emphasized the need for a regional approach, advocating for real-time intelligence sharing among law enforcement, military, and counterterrorism agencies to enhance response times against non-traditional security threats.
Reclaiming Perspectives: IBSA Against Western Influence
The India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) dialogue forum could play a crucial role in combating global terrorism by providing a multilateral approach to collective security that reflects a non-Western perspective and a diverse geopolitical landscape, the counter-terrorism expert asserted.
He highlighted that many current counter-terrorism strategies are primarily influenced by Western powers, which often ignore the distinct challenges faced by the Global South.
IBSA could enhance counter-terrorism efforts by concentrating on regions like Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, where terrorism is a significant concern, and emphasized that Global South nations frequently endure the repercussions of issues like money laundering caused by developed countries, Ojha contended.
Ojha mentioned that strengthening South-South cooperation is vital, as enhancing regional counter-terrorism capacities through IBSA can bolster countries' abilities to fight terrorism via technical assistance, intelligence sharing, and tactical training, addressing specific threats such as India's issues with terrorism and Brazil's challenges with gang violence and extremism.
Additionally, it is crucial to utilize IBSA's influence within the United Nations, advocating for reforms in the UN Security Council to establish a stronger international counter-terrorism framework through collaboration among IBSA nations, the pundit added.
He emphasized the importance of promoting a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, highlighting India's leadership in this area.
These countries have long grappled with terrorism, and the India-Brazil-South Africa dialogue can effectively address this issue by utilizing each member's unique strengths and fostering collective security through collaboration and global norms, with the UN playing a vital role, he concluded.
* internationally banned oranisations
** Meta has been banned in Russia as an extremist organisation