India to contribute $500,000 to UN to counter terrorism

India will contribute half a million dollars to the United Nations' efforts to counter global terrorism as new and emerging technologies used by terror groups pose fresh threats to governments around the world, the foreign minister said on Saturday.

The money will go toward the UN Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism and will further strengthen the organisation's fight against terrorism, S Jaishankar said as he addressed a special meeting of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee in New Delhi.

This is the first time such a conference, focused on challenging threats posed by terror groups in the face of new technologies, is being held outside of the UN's headquarters in New York.

Jaishankar said new technologies, like encrypted messaging services and blockchain, are increasingly being misused by terror groups and malicious actors, sparking an urgent need for the international community to adopt measures to combat the threats.

"Internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorist and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalisation and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilising societies," he said in his keynote address.

Jaishankar also highlighted the growing threat from the use of unmanned aerial systems such as drones by terror groups and criminal organisations, calling them a challenge for security agencies worldwide.

"In Africa, drones have been used by the terrorist groups to monitor movements of security forces and even of UN peacekeepers, making them vulnerable to terrorist attacks," he added.

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