The BRICS nations today called for a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, which should include countering radicalisation, blocking channels of terrorist financing, dismantling terrorists' bases and preventing misuse of the internet by terrorist entities.
The five-member nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - signed the BRICS Johannesburg Declaration, asserting that those responsible for committing, organising, or supporting terrorist acts must be held accountable.
"We call upon all nations to adopt a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, which should include countering radicalisation, recruitment, travel of foreign terrorist fighters, blocking sources and channels of terrorist financing including, for instance, through organised crime by means of money-laundering, supply of weapons, drug trafficking and other criminal activities, dismantling terrorist bases, and countering misuse of the internet" by them, it said.
The declaration deplored the continued terrorist attacks, including in some BRICS member states, and condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever committed and by whomsoever.
"We urge concerted efforts to counter terrorism under the UN auspices on a firm international legal basis and express our conviction that a comprehensive approach is necessary to ensure an effective fight against terrorism. We recall the responsibility of all states to prevent financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories," it said.
It called upon the international community to establish a genuinely broad international counter-terrorism coalition and support the UN's central coordinating role on the issue.
The bloc said the fight against terrorism must be conducted in accordance with international law and reaffirmed its commitment on increasing the effectiveness of the UN counter-terrorism framework, including in the areas of cooperation and coordination among the relevant UN entities, designation of terrorists and terrorist groups and technical assistance to Members States.
It called for expeditious finalisation and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) by the UN General Assembly.
The declaration also emphasised the need for launching multilateral negotiations on an international convention for the suppression of acts of chemical and biological terrorism, including at the Conference on Disarmament, to address the threat of chemical and biological terrorism.
The grouping also reaffirmed its commitment to support international cooperation in combating illicit financial flows, including cooperation within Financial Actions Task Force (FATF) and World Customs Organisation.
"We underscore the importance of increasing mutual exchanges and data sharing. We emphasise the importance of upholding and supporting the objectives of FATF and to intensify our cooperation to implement and improve its Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation in FATF," it added.
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