New Delhi: Ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa on Thursday condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever committed and by whomsoever.
Minister of External Affairs Dr. S Jaishankar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Amb. Mauro Vieira, and the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Ronald Lamola, held a meeting on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United National General Assembly on 26 September, in New York.
As per the IBSA declaration issued after the meeting, they concurred that terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought and that terrorist safe havens are eliminated in every part of the world. They reaffirmed that the fight against terrorism must be carried out with full respect for international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law.
The IBSA ministers called upon the international community to establish a genuinely broad international counter-terrorism framework in accordance with the principles of international law and support the United Nations' central coordinating role in international counter-terrorism cooperation. They recalled the responsibility of all States to prevent and counter terrorism, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, the financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories.
The ministers called for concerted actions against all UN-listed terrorists and terrorist entities including Al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), other proxy groups and their facilitators. The Ministers reiterated their resolve to step up joint efforts for the expeditious adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UNGA.
The Ministers further recalled that IBSA was created more than 20 years ago to promote coordination on global issues between three large pluralistic, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic democracies of Asia, South America and Africa, and to enhance trilateral cooperation in sectoral areas, providing a new and broader framework of South-South Cooperation.
They underscored the importance of IBSA's principles, norms, and values, including reformed multilateralism, participatory democracy, respect for and the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and international humanitarian law, sovereign equality, territorial integrity, peaceful negotiation, diplomacy, freedom, the primacy of international law and sustainable development, an official statement said.
IBSA ministers agreed that the fight against poverty and hunger is a priority and a long-standing area for cooperation among IBSA countries. They agreed to leverage international cooperation to ensure food security and nutrition at the global level, it said.
The Ministers pledged to keep promoting the importance of this topic, as stated in the IBSA Standalone meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs held in February 2024. They encouraged further progress on the IBSA Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger (IBSA Fund), which improves financial support for South-owned, South-led, demand-driven projects under national ownership across the developing world.
They welcomed the pre-launching of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty as one of the principal initiatives of the Brazilian presidency of the G20 and look forward to its continuity. The Ministers agreed to strengthen, expand and promote the IBSA Fund, an internationally recognised initiative of South-South cooperation, with 45 projects in 38 countries, the statement added.
The Ministers recalled that India, Brazil and South Africa are focused on pursuing sustainable development, overcoming development challenges, reforming the global governance and upholding independent foreign policies. They believe that the values and principles of IBSA serve as a bridge between developing and developed countries. The Ministers affirmed the strategic significance of IBSA in safeguarding and advancing the interests of the Global South on the global stage, including at the multilateral and plurilateral bodies, the statement said.
They noted with concern the escalation of geopolitical tensions and the eruption of conflicts in various parts of the world and emphasised the urgency of re-engaging in the pursuit of peace, in contrast to divisive narratives that only serve to reinforce the current scenario of fragmentation and geopolitical polarisation and stressed the need for valuing dialogue and diplomacy as a primary instrument for the peaceful resolution of conflicts and the need for strengthening tools for conflict prevention, such as mediation and negotiation.
The IBSA declaration read that the ministers reiterated their commitment to multilateralism and to the principles of the United Nations Charter and called for upholding international law. They affirmed the need for reformed, revitalised and reinvigorated multilateralism aimed at implementing the 2030 Agenda, at adequately addressing contemporary global challenges of the 21st century and at making global governance more representative, legitimate, democratic, effective, transparent and accountable, the statement added.
