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Feb 15, 2021

UNSC Watch: ISIS Terror in Times of COVID-19; a Long-Shot Challenger to Guterres

India argued that the SG's biannual report should include the actions of Pakistan-based terror groups.
Arora Akanksha (R), a 34-year-old UN employee, has announced that she will be contesting for the Secretary-General's position. Photos: Reuters/Twitter

New Delhi: The Islamic State’s terror activities were the cynosure of all eyes at the United Nations Security Council’s main discussion last week, after the Secretary General’s biannual report by UN, with India arguing that it should include the actions of Pakistan-based terror groups.

The main outcomes of week seven of India’s eighth term at the UNSC were a presidential statement on Libya and the extension of the panel of experts’ mandate assisting the Council committee supervising Sudan-related sanctions.

On February 10, the 15 members states were briefed about the report prepared by UN counter-terrorism officials, which noted that ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) had not been able to ‘weaponise’ the pandemic as was first discussed within the terror group in March 2020.

“Member States assess that ISIL has been unable to flesh out a purposeful strategy to take advantage of the pandemic, while its messaging remains aspirational and lacking in practical focus,” said the report.

The UN report also assessed that as restrictions on movement and transport eased up, there could be a spate of attacks by people who had been radicalised by their time in lockdown when the internet was their main outlet for information.

“As people spend more time at home and online, individuals susceptible to ISIL propaganda and incitement risk greater exposure. The socioeconomic toll and political fallout of the pandemic, meanwhile, could further aggravate the longer-term threat by exacerbating drivers of terrorist radicalisation. These factors could lead to a “bottle up and release” effect or a sudden rash of attacks when pandemic -related restrictions are eased in various locations.”

There is also a worrisome trend of ISIL becoming particularly active in Africa’s conflict zones in the second part of 2020.

The report stated that an unidentified member state conveyed information that there were still 11,000 ISIL fighters in north-eastern Syria. There was also the burgeoning threat that displacement camps in Syria had become incubators for another generation of fighters. “Many instances of radicalisation, fundraising, training and incitement of external operations have been reported in the Hawl camp, where some 65,000 people remain, far above its intended capacity. ISIL supporters have described the camp as “the final remnant of the caliphate,” it stated.

In recent months, there were more and more reports of terrorist fighters and their family members trying to raise funds through cryptocurrency wallet addresses. Further, terror fighters were apparently using the opportunity of the COVID-19 pandemic by selling personal protective equipment (PPE). “One State brought charges against a reported ISIL facilitator for operating a website purporting to sell N95 face masks.”

Watch: How the Myanmar Military Coup is Being Resisted by the People

About Daesh’s offshoot in Afghanistan, ISIL-Khorasan, the report said that the group’s new leader Shihab al-Muhajir is said to “have had an earlier affiliation with and to maintain familial ties to the Haqqani Network”.

The Indian intervention by permanent representative T.S. Tirumurti zeroed in on this point. “It is essential that we don’t lose sight of the ease with which the proscribed Haqqani Network and its supporters, especially with support from Pakistani authorities, have worked along with prominent terrorist organisations like Al-Qaida, ISIL K, etc. in South Asia,” he stated.

Tirumurti said that the UNSG’s report should cover Pakistan-based terror groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyabba and Jaish-e-Mohammad as they are proscribed as terrorist entities under the ISIL and Al-Qaeda sanctions regime.

“The world is fully aware that these groups also perpetrate terrorist activities from safe havens in Pakistan, including through violent attacks in Afghanistan that have disrupted the peace process. We are also witnessing the relocation of terror groups to Afghanistan especially in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, across the Durand line. To not name them in this report is doing a disservice as it gives only a partial and a biased view of the situation in the region,” he stated.

The Council’s public discussions also brought forth the difference between the members on repatriation and prosecution of foreign fighters.

Vladimir Voronkov, Under‑Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism and the head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, had pointed out that the secretary-general had called for the voluntary repatriation and praised Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for repatriating hundreds of children from north-east Syria. The EU states were called out for being tardy.

The US and Russia are largely on the same page on the repatriation issue, with the European Union nations reluctant to take back their nationals from Syria.

Mirroring Europe’s views, UK asserted that while it facilitates the return of unaccompanied children on a case-by-case basis, it believes that Daesh fighters should “should face justice in the most appropriate jurisdiction – often where those crimes were committed”.

India’s position on Ukraine, via Kashmir

To mark the anniversary of the 2015 Minsk II agreement, Russia had called for a briefing on the situation in Ukraine, where a senior UN official claimed that the humanitarian conditions were worsening despite the relative calm on the surface.

India’s position on Ukraine continues to lean towards the Russian position, which does not want outside interference, especially on Crimea.

“When parties to a dispute come to mutually negotiated agreements, such agreements take precedence even over resolutions adopted by the Security Council, since these agreements are not externally imposed but are mutually agreed between the parties concerned and hence have every chance of success,” said India’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, K. Nagaraj, on February 11. This weight given to bilateral agreements by India has a direct line from its position on Kashmir, where New Delhi has always insisted that the Shimla agreement with Pakistan makes the UN’s role in the dispute infructuous.

Stating that the Minsk agreement should be the basis for peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine, Nagaraj added that India also believes that “meetings under the Normandy Format will further facilitate the resolution of the issues related to the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Agreements, including its key security and political aspects”.

The so-called Normandy format is negotiations between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine to find a solution to the armed conflict. It is so named as the four countries’ leaders met first to discuss the issue on the side-lines of the 70th anniversary of D-day landings in Normandy in 2014.

Throwing hat into the ring

With the start of the election season for the UN secretary-general, the first challenger to emerge is not backed by any member state, but an employee of the multilateral body. A 34-year-old audit coordinator for the United Nations Development Program, Arora Akanksha has thrown her hat into the ring by launching her campaign to be the next SG on February 9.

In her campaign website, she describes herself as coming from a “family of refugees”, as both sets of grandparents were forced to leave their homes for India in the 1947 partition of the subcontinent.

In an interview with PassBlue, an UN-focused news website, Akanksha stated Antonio Guterres has “failed” to reform the UN and act as a “leader to refugees”.

Also read: Why the United Nations Should Be the One to Protect Global Online Spaces

As an independent candidate, Akanksha has a next to a negligible chance of being selected as the UNSG. The Security Council has to recommend the candidate to the General Assembly, which means that the permanent five have the final say with their veto power.

On her website, she has a form which sends a mail to the respective ambassadors to the UN based on the citizenship of the netizen.

All of them have a simple subject and template:

Subject: We Want Change

Dear Ambassador,

The current UN system is failing us and is not fulfilling its promise. Change is needed now. I want Arora Akanksha as our new Secretary-General of the United Nation.

Sincerely,

The World

India-China UNSC consultations

At the start of last week, India and Chinese officials at the joint secretary-level held consultations through video conference on matters before the Security Council. This is part of a series of consultations that India has been holding with other UNSC member states.

The Indian read-out stated that Ministry of External Affairs officials briefed their Chinese counterparts on “India’s priorities during its UNSC tenure”. The Chinese foreign ministry noted that “Both sides exchanged views on safeguarding multilateralism, United Nations peacekeeping operations, counter-terrorism and other issues”.

With the UNSC having a short working week during to Lunar New Year, India’s envoy extended his felicitations for the holiday to his Chinese counterpart.

This week in the UN

The first signature event of the UK’s February presidency will take place on Wednesday. UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab will preside over an open debate on the implementation of UNSC resolution 2532 that had called for worldwide cessation of hostilities due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This is a weekly column that tracks the UNSC during India’s current term as a non-permanent member. Previous columns can be found here.

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