India urges international community to call out states involved in financing terror groups

There are states that are "clearly guilty" of aiding and supporting terrorism and wilfully providing financial assistance to terrorists, India said at the UN Security Council meeting, urging the international community to collectively call out such nations and hold them accountable for their actions. First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Rajesh Parihar, made the comments on Thursday, 18 November, at the Joint special meeting on Terrorist Financing Threats and Trends and the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 2462. 

Parihar, as per ANI, said, "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.”

“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,” he added. 

While speaking at the meeting, Parihar also emphasised that recent trends of new financial and payment technologies methods had enabled terrorist groups to exploit them for collecting and transferring funds. He said that the “misuse” of blockchain technology, virtual/cryptocurrencies, digital crowdsourcing, prepaid phone cards etc has posed new risks to CFT efforts. He also went on to state that the proliferation of fake charities and fake non-profit organisations (NPOs) during the COVID-19 pandemic has also further exacerbated the risk. 

Parihar cited reports that pointed to the laxity of some nations in South Asia in prosecuting leaders of UN-designated terror groups and where terror outfits continue to raise funds. He said that the global implementation survey of resolution 1373, adopted by the CTC on November 4 and FATF’s latest report on ‘Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring’ highlights the “continued terror-finance risk due to lack of action by a country in our neighbourhood” - a reference to Pakistan.  

“It is time the international community holds such countries accountable for their actions and demand fulfillment of their obligations towards implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions in this regard,” Parihar said.

India steadfast in its commitment to CFT

Further, Parihar noted that India is steadfast in its commitment to CFT and has developed over the last few decades the necessary capabilities, legal frameworks, institutions, and best practices for CFT. India is in the process of upgrading its financial intelligence network FINnet by introducing machine learning or artificial intelligence, chatbots and virtual assistants for effective coordination among law enforcement agencies to counter terror financing, the Indian envoy said. He added that India took measures to bring its financial sectors to international standards including those at FATF. 

"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," Parihar added.

(With inputs from ANI)