1. Do you agree that UN has failed to contain transnational terrorism?

Elaborate with
examples.

Approach:

1. Discuss the instrumentality of UN in fight against terrorism

2. Discuss how UN has failed in containing transnational terrorism
3. Discuss some achievements of UN in fighting terrorism
4. Discuss how other international organisations along with UN can be instrumental in
containing terrorism
5. Conclude

United Nation a multilateral international organisation with a mandate to maintain peace and
stability around the world. However, terrorism and its transnational nature has posed various
challenges to UN, more so when terrorism is now being used as an instrument of state policy
(Unconventional warfare) to influence the geopolitical and regional influences.

How UN failed to deal with the challenge of transnational terrorism .

1. Late recognition – while India introduced “comprehensive convention on international
terrorism” in 1996, UN only took cognisance of the issue after 9/11 attack
2. Lack of consensus – UN has failed to show leadership in reaching a definite definition of
terrorism. India time and again have made it clear “one cannot fight an unknown enemy”.
3. Vested Political Interests – Permanent members have time and again protected rough
states from UN sanctions to curb terrorism. Ex- China earlier put technical hold listing of
Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
4. Lack of legal framework - The absence a legal framework becomes an obstacle to deal with
international terrorism to execute sanctions.
5. Failure to take action against State’s who use terrorism as instrument of foreign policy. Ex –
UN despite credible evidence against Pakistan submitted by India failed to take action
against Pakistan.

How UN took some steps to fight terrorism.

1. Kofi Annan UN secretary general in 2005 gave 5 pillar of counter terrorism strategy –
a. Dissuade groups from resorting to terrorism
b. Deny terrorist the means to carry out attacks
c. Deter States from supporting terrorism
d. Capacity building of states to fight terrorism
e. Defend Human rights in context of terrorism and counter terrorism
2. UNSC resolution 1267 sanctions committee obliges the member states to freeze the assets
of designated terrorist and prevent the travel of listed terrorists.
3. . It constituted a counter terrorism committee under UNSC in 2001.
Way forward

1. Yedla Umashankar legal advisor to permanent mission of India to UN said early adoption of
CCIT would provide a sound legal bases to deal with terrorism benefiting all the member
nations.
2. UN can collaborate with regional organisation like BIMSTEC and ASEAN in Indo-pacific, SCO
in central asia, African Union in Africa, European union to collaborate efforts to deal with the
transnational nature of terrorism.
3. 5 Steps UN needs to follow to implement Kofi Annan’s model
a. Clarity – Clearly identify the enemy
b. Cooperation – Free exchange of information and counter terrorism intelligence
c. Commitment – sufficient political will must be generated
d. Capacity - States should pool resources to deal with the challenges
e. Accountability – States must be held accountable for not taking actions against
terrorist groups
f. Consequences - Failure to take action against terrorist groups by the nations should
follow credible consequences

UN is the platform where all the stakeholder can generate consensus on how to deal with such a
problem which has evolved just from a means to an end to an end in itself. The instrumentality of
UN remains in fact that despite challenges UN is capable of acting as a coordinator among different
players to curb this crime against humanity.