UN meet: India to press for UN reforms

Amid progress in the talks over the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, India will use the upcoming UN general assembly to press for early adoption of the long-pending legal framework which would make it binding for all countries to deny space to terror groups.

External affairs minister SM Krishna, who will represent the country at the General Assembly, is also expected to make a strong pitch for UN reforms, particularly that of the security council for whose permanent membership India is a strong contender.

He is likely to make an important policy declaration on disarmament, particularly on the Fissile Material Control Treaty, sources told PTI here without divulging details. 

Krishna, who will be in New York for 10 days from tomorrow, has a packed schedule involving about 15 UN-related and multilateral meetings like G-15, SAARC, NAM, Commonwealth, G-4, disarmament conference, India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC).

He will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with a number of his counterparts. Krishna's interaction with the Pakistan foreign minister is also not ruled out.
    
In his address to the UNGA likely on September 28 or 29, Krishna will highlight the dangers terror poses to the world. 

In this context, he will press for early adoption of the CCIT, the Convention on terrorism which has been stuck for several years because of differences among countries over aspects like definition of terrorism.

The draft Convention obligates member countries to cooperate in the prevention and punishment of acts of terror.

It requires the member countries to establish as criminal offences under its domestic law the offences, which are of such a nature as to create terror, fear, or insecurity, and to make them punishable by appropriate penal ties.

In view of the differences, India had, sometime back, circulated a new draft.

The sources said negotiations on this draft have made progress in bridging the differences as the definition of terrorism in it is in consonance with those existing in 14 sectoral conventions on terrorism like the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages.

Some countries had voiced apprehensions that the CCIT could be used against armed forces in combat zones. 

The definition of terrorism proposed in the Indian draft does not prejudice against security forces as it makes it clear that all the combatants are liable under the international humanitarian laws.

With regard to UN reforms, Krishna is expected to press the urgent need for it in view of the changed world realities.

This comes against the backdrop of renewed enthusiasm in the G-4 comprising India, Germany, Japan and Brazil, which is pitching for in a coordinated manner for the expansion of security council to include more countries as permanent members.