Country: India
Topic: Terrorism in Europe
Delegate name: Evan Bimaputra
It has risen up countless times over recent years, making big headlines that most often grapple
with the our concept of safety all over the world. Making big names for itself, jihadist terrorist
organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda have gained
notoriety by masterminding brutally fatal terrorist attacks against countries worldwide. However,
in its root nature, terrorism does not only concern overzealous extremism and fanaticism.
Rather, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, terrorism is any instance of a systematic
use of terror; the state of intense fear; especially as a means of coercion. It is quite appalling
that jihadist attacks against Western countries have been the talk of many countries around the
world in recent years. However, the long history of terrorism in Europe cannot be forgotten. The
European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), formerly known as the
European Police Office, has classified terrorism in Europe to root from 5 main affiliations: ethnonationalism/separatism, jihadism, left-wing/anarchism, right-wing terrorism, and single-issue
terrorism. The talk of many prior to this decade, and throughout the second half of the 20th
century, has been dominated mostly by attacks perpetrated nationalist/separatist terrorist
organizations: namely by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) within Spain, and Irish Republican
Army (IRA) within the United Kingdom, and the aptly-named consequent Provisional Irish
Republican Army (PIRA) within the United Kingdom.
Both the United Nations and the European Union have taken specific measures in accordance
with their goal of counterterrorism. Although the actions taken by the United Nations have an
essentially general substance, they are still mostly applicable to the acts of terrorism that occur
in Europe. With the strategic commitment, “To combat terrorism globally while respecting
human rights, and make Europe safer, allowing its citizens to live in an area of freedom, security
and justice.”, the European Union has adopted The European Union Counter-Terrorism
Strategy in Brussels in 2005. This strategy outlines four main bullet points, from which specific
measures will be directed by: prevent (to prevent people turning to terrorism by tackling the
factors or root causes which can lead to radicalisation and recruitment, in Europe and
internationally), protect (to protect citizens and infrastructure and reduce our vulnerability to
attack, including through improved security of borders, transport and critical infrastructure),
pursue (to pursue and investigate terrorists across our borders and globally; to impede planning,
travel, and communications; to disrupt support networks; to cut off funding and access to attack
materials, and bring terrorists to justice), and respond (to prepare ourselves, in the spirit of
solidarity, to manage and minimise the consequences of a terrorist attack, by improving
capabilities to deal with: the aftermath; the co-ordination of the response; and the needs of
victims). As a counterterrorism strategy, India wholeheartedly supports the measures taken in
accordance with this strategy, as it effectively divides the issue into smaller issues, from which
specific and accurate measures may be taken. Although the measures are very likeable, they
have not conveniently proved their efficiency. Ethno-nationalist and separatist related attacks
have declined in recent years, most prevalently due to this overarching strategy. However, the
number of fatal attacks have only increased within the past decade, which is in consonance with
the rise of jihadist terrorism in Europe. The most recent United Nations resolution of Threats to
international peace and security caused by terrorist acts was adopted in July 20, 2017. The
resolution actively deploys 105 operative clauses, which all primarily sway to the assurance that
countries will partake in: asset freeze (freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets
or economic resources of terrorist-affiliated individuals/groups), travel ban (prevent the entry or
transit through their territories of terrorist-affiliated individuals/groups), and arms embargo
(prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer to terrorist-affiliated individuals/groups of
arms and related materiel of all types). India does support the international framework that this
resolution adopts, and the assurance that all countries signatory to this resolution must
participate in taking the measures adopted by the resolution. However, albeit the recency of its
adoption, the resolution does not make any clear-cut methods of being able to effectively assure
the participation of any and all countries.
The stance of India heavily relates to those of Western countries: the denunciation of terroristaffiliated individuals and organizations, and the willing assurance to take effective measures to
combat terrorism. Although India has not particularly involved itself specifically in
counterterrorist measures in Europe, India has taken very relentless stances against terrorism
as a whole. In fact, India has one of the most lengthy list of governmentally-recognized terrorist
organizations, with 33 terrorist cults (most based in or around South Asia). Within these 33
recognized terrorist organizations include ISIL and al-Qaeda, two of the most prevalent groups
when discussing jihadist-affiliated attacks in Europe. India has met multiple times with
delegations coming from the European Union in talks with effectively combatting terrorism as a
whole, with the most recent being the 10th India-European Union Counter Terrorism Meeting in
August 30, 2017. These talks have mostly achieved agreement in both parties, with both India
and the European effectively denouncing all forms of terrorism and working in tandem in order
to combat terrorism with a larger framework. India’s own stance, as outlined in multiple press
releases and speeches, is to effectively globally unite all countries against the pressing issue of
terrorism, due to its global prevalence. India also would like to develop accountability for nationstates that, in any form or shape, affiliate themselves with terrorism.
India will look to bring many solutions pertaining to the issue of counterterrorism, which can then
in turn be applied to not just terrorism in Europe, but also for terrorism in general. All these ideas
will reflect around India’s main stance to fight terrorism as a united global confederation. First,
India would like to propose the creation of a global counterterrorism organization, with a strong
centralized leadership, and the full-fledged participation of all member states of the United
Nations. India will stress the global relevancy and importance of the issue of terrorism, and will
therefore stress the importance of creating an organization just for combatting terrorism.
Specific measures will be adopted by this state, with India as a wholehearted ardent supporter.
Within this organization, India would like to see effective communication between all member
states. This includes a faster means of communicating information related to investigations into
terrorist organizations/attacks, or information related to future probable terrorist attacks. This
also includes the development of effective anti-terrorism measures in smaller, underdeveloped
countries, spearheaded by developed countries with strong judicial systems. These reforms will
include measures to effectively spot terrorist-affiliated activity, measures to combat the
aftermath of an attack, and judicial measures to effectively bring terrorist-affiliated individuals to
justice.
India looks forward to a fruitful conference that sees no deference subjugated to the topic of
terrorism. India will not tolerate any form of terrorism, in accordance with its very violent past,
and will be glad to eradicate the issue to the best of the United Nations’ ability.