Rio de Janeiro/New Delhi: BRICS countries on Monday condemned in ‘’strongest terms’’ the Pahalgam terrorist attack and reaffirmed commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorism financing and safe havens.
BRICS countries, in a Joint Declaration at the conclusion of their seventeenth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, called for ensuring zero tolerance for terrorism and also rejected the double standards in countering the scourge.
Expressing strong condemnation of any acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation ‘’whenever, wherever and by whomsoever committed,’’ the Joint Declaration said terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group and that all those involved in terrorist activities and their support must be held accountable and brought to justice in accordance with relevant national and international law.
‘’We express strong condemnation of any acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, whenever, wherever and by whomsoever committed. We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. We reaffirm our commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorism financing and safe havens. We urge to ensure zero tolerance for terrorism and reject double standards in countering terrorism.’’
Emphasizing the primary responsibility of States in combating terrorism, the BRICS countries called for global efforts to prevent and counter terrorist threats and said the States must fully comply with their obligations under international law, including the UN Charter and relevant international conventions and protocols, particularly international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law.
They welcomed the activities of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) and its five Subgroups based upon the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan and the CTWG position paper and said they looked forward to further deepening counter-terrorism cooperation.
They called for an expeditious finalization and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN framework for concerted actions against all UN designated terrorists and terrorist entities.
The BRICS countries reiterated commitment to preventing and combating illicit financial flows, including money laundering and financing of terrorism, extremism and proliferation, as well as other forms of transnational organized crime like drug trafficking, cybercrimes, crimes that affect the environment, illicit trafficking of firearms, trafficking in persons, corruption and the use of new technologies, including cryptocurrencies, for terrorist purposes.
They underscored the importance of enhancing capacity-building and technical assistance, particularly for developing countries, to support the implementation of relevant international obligations and reaffirmed commitment to the principles of technical and non-politicized nature of international anti-criminal cooperation, including for the purpose of prevention and of financial investigations.
'We note the need to further strengthen such cooperation, including through relevant existing BRICS working groups, meetings of the BRICS countries’ competent authorities and other forms of cooperation based on the documents adopted in BRICS, as well as the relevant international legal instruments to which BRICS countries are parties.'
They emphasized the importance of creating conditions for safe development of the younger generation, reducing the risk of their involvement in illegal activities and welcomed the development of relevant international projects with the participation of young people.
