India part of new Global Counter-terrorism Forum

From Yoshita Singh
United Nations (PTI) - A consortium of nations,
including India, has launched a new multilateral body aimed at
fighting terrorism by bringing together members to identify
urgent needs and devise solutions to tackle the menace.
Launching the Global Counter-terrorism Forum (GCTF),
which includes 29 countries plus the European Union, on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly here, US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said last evening that the world needs a
dedicated global venue to regularly convene key
counter-terrorism policy makers and practitioners from around
the world.
"It is our hope that this new Global Counter-terrorism
Forum will provide that venue," she said.
Clinton said in the decade after 9/11 attacks, innocent
citizens have become victims of al-Qaeda and Lashkar e-Taiba.
"From London to Lahore, from Madrid to Mumbai, from
Kabul to Kampala, it is innocent civilians who have been
targeted. And no country can afford to sit on the sidelines
and no country can afford to go it alone," she said.
"We can build an international counter-terrorism network
that is as nimble and adaptive as our adversaries, that can
mobilise resources and expertise from across the globe, and
that can not only meet today's challenges but prepare for
tomorrow's."
Clinton also urged all states to work to finalise the
Comprehensive Convention Against International Terrorism,
which India introduced more than a decade ago.
In a first, the Global Counter-terrorism Forum is meant
to create a venue where partners can come together and
identify urgent needs in counter-terrorism around the world,
devise solutions and mobilise the resources to implement those
solutions.
The forum is meant to move past some of the debates that
have paralysed – or inhibited – multilateral institutions in
the past from dealing with counter-terrorism, specifically the
endless debate over who is a terrorist, a US State Department
official said.
The official said the initiative was built on the
failure of earlier such initiatives like the G-8
Counter-terrorism Action Group, which was meant to be a
capacity-building organisation, but never realised the vision
of its founding.
The forum comprises 29 countries in the EU, 11 Muslim
majority nations, China, India, Russia along with regional
representation from South America and Africa.
It will have a coordinating committee of Foreign
Ministry officials besides five working groups.
Two functional groups would focus on criminal justice,
rule of law and countering violent extremism. Three groups
would be focused on regions of Sahel, the Horn of Africa and
Southeast Asia.
The working groups will be co-chaired by members of the
GCTF but will be open to other countries.
"The Global Counter-terrorism Forum is going to play a
critical role in terms of setting the international agenda and
the urgent needs in the areas of counter-terrorism.
"It would focus on civilian institutions, rule of law,
border security, which is a critical problem in many countries
and has contributed to the creation of safe havens for
terrorists," officials said.