Terrorism should be considered crimes against humanity: India at UN

India has urged that terrorism-related atrocities be included under crimes against humanity in the proposed international convention on the prevention and punishment of such crimes. At the UN's Sixth Committee meeting, India stressed accountability, national jurisdiction, sovereignty, and non-interference while discussing the convention scheduled for adoption in 2028.

United Nations: A new pact for international action on punishing crimes against humanity should cover terrorism, according to India.

“Crimes and atrocities perpetrated by terrorists, where they meet the requisite threshold, should be appropriately reflected within the framework of crimes against humanity”, R Mythili, a counsellor at India’s UN Mission, said on Monday.

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She was speaking at a meeting of the General Assembly’s Sixth Committee, which deals with legal matters, regarding the conference on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity that is scheduled for 2028, where an international convention is to be adopted.

Given the “grave nature” of terrorist acts “and their impact on people, this should, however, be considered in a manner consistent with the overall approach of the draft articles (of the international convention) and without simply transposing existing legal regimes into a new convention”, Mythili said.

She said that nations “bear the responsibility to ensure justice and accountability for grave human rights violations and mass atrocities, in accordance with their national legislation”.

The convention must reinforce the principle that the nations have the primary responsibility for protecting people from crimes against humanity, she said.

Also, nations have the obligation to ensure justice and accountability for the “gravest violations of human rights and mass atrocities” committed by their citizens, she said.

She emphasised that countries should have the primacy of jurisdiction, taking into account the interests of justice, the rights of the accused, and the interests of victims.

Mythili said measures aimed at preventing and punishing crimes against humanity must fully respect the sovereignty of nations and the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of countries.

The General Assembly, in a resolution in 2004, called for holding, in 2028, the conference on prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, with two preparatory conferences, the first of which was held in January to negotiate and draft the convention.

The conference’s goal, according to the UN, is to adopt a legally binding pact on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.