China averts India to head UNSC Sanctions Committee

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China opposed India’s chairing of the sanctions committee of Al Qaida and its other associates.

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India will convene the Taliban and Libya sanctions committees and the Counter-Terrorism Committee for the year 2022 of the UNSC during its tenure as non-permanent member of the dominant 15-nation UN body. Al Qaida and Taliban Sanctions committee were separated in 2011.

India began its two-year tenure at the Council on 8th January, 2021. The UN Security Council establishes auxiliary bodies on specific issues, including on the sanctions regimes.

India has cleared its aim to fight against terrorism as a key priority area during its term of 2021-22 at UNSC.

Amidst all China does not want India to head Al Qaida committee that lists international terrorists. Terrorists’ like Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi are responsible for terror attacks in India and for which Pakistan has still not taken any action.

This is for the first time that Taliban Sanctions committee and Al Qaida sanctions committee will be headed by two different countries. Taliban Sanctions Committee would be headed by India and Al Qaida will be headed by Norway.

India would have been significant position if it would have got the chance to chair the Al Qaida and its other affiliates as she would have got support from international community for holding Pakistan responsible for cross-border terrorism. This committee has the right to denominate individuals and establishments who meet the listing criteria set out in ‘relevant resolutions’. The committee also manages ‘periodic and specialized’ reviews of the entries on the sanction list and reports annually to the UNSC on the execution of the sanctions measures.

This is not for the first time that China has opposed India. It was in 2019, after revoking article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, China raised the issue at UNSC but it was not supported by rest of the members saying that it was the internal matter of India.

Taliban Sanctions Committee (1988 Sanctions Committee) has been the prime concern for India because of its commitment towards Afghanistan’s peace, security and development.

Libya Sanctions Committee ( 1970 Sanctions Committee) implements the sanctions regime, involving a two-way arms barrier on Libya and assets freeze, a ban on travel and counts on illicit export of petroleum.

Counter-terrorism committee would be chaired by India in 2022. It is said to focus on specific ‘thematic areas’ like violent extremism, terror financing but it cannot sanction terror entities.