While addressing the anti-terrorism meeting in Delhi on Saturday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar pointed out terrorism as one of the "gravest threats" to humanity. He also raised concern regarding the terrorist groups using new technologies including social media as a 'toolkit' for terrorism.
Despite the efforts by the United Nations (UN), the threat of terrorism is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, he said while speaking at the UNSC's meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.
"The UN Security Council, in the past two decades, has evolved an important architecture, built primarily around the counter-terrorism sanctions regime, to combat this menace," he said.
"This has been very effective in putting those countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a state-funded enterprise," Jaishankar said.
"Despite this, the threat of terrorism is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, as successive reports of the 1267 Sanctions Committee Monitoring Reports have highlighted," he added.
Expressing the concern over the terrorist groups using new technologies, he said that the internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the "toolkit of terrorists and militant groups."
"In recent years, terrorist groups, their ideological fellow travellers, particularly in open and liberal societies, and 'lone wolf' attackers have significantly enhanced their capabilities by gaining access to these technologies," Jaishankar said.
"They use technology and money, and most importantly the ethos of open societies, to attack freedom, tolerance and progress," he said.
Jaishankar said another "add-on" to the existing worries for governments around the world is the use of unmanned aerial systems by terrorist groups and organised criminal networks.
"The possibilities of using weaponised drones for terrorist purposes against strategic, infrastructure and commercial assets call for serious attention by the member states," he said.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for global efforts to deal with the challenge of the use of new technologies by terror groups to foment discord.
While speaking at the event, Guterres said that new and emerging technologies have unmatched potential to improve human conditions everywhere, regrettably, they have been also been misused by many including malicious actors.
"We must adopt concrete measures to reduce these vulnerabilities while committing to protect all human rights in the digital sphere," he said.
The counter-terror meeting in Delhi is being attended by representatives from all 15 member nations of the UN Security Council.
(With inputs from PTI)