Unified and zero-tolerance approach can eventually defeat terrorism: India`s UN envoy Ruchira Kamboj at meeting over Iraq

New York: India`s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, said that terrorism remains a global challenge and only a unified and zero-tolerance approach to this can defeat it, adding "Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations remains a global challenge and only a unified and zero-tolerance approach to terrorism can eventually defeat it. As the government of the people of Iraq continue their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). It is also critical to fighting the impunity of terror globally." 

Addressing the UN meeting over Iraq, Kamboj also talked about the 26/11 attack and said that India believes that the credibility of the collective "fight against terrorism can be strengthened only when we can ensure accountability for the grave and inhuman acts of terror committed by terrorists and take strong measure against those who encourage support and finance terrorism."

Earlier on Monday, Special Adviser Christian Ritscher said that providing justice for the communities impacted by the ISIL terror network in Iraq remains the key focus of the UN investigative team there while citing the evidence collected and analysed, substantiated preliminary findings from his previous report. 

According to UN news, Christian Ritscher further cited crimes committed against Christians such as enslavement and forced conversion; "notable progress" on the development and use of chemical and biological weapons; and inspections on the destruction of internationally protected cultural heritage sites. 

He is further quoted by the ANI report as saying, "At this pivotal stage of our mandate, please allow me to state that my team has now reached the next level on the path of holding ISIL perpetrators accountable for the core international crimes they committed." 

He also highlighted the excavation of several ISIL-related mass graves in Iraq and detailed that UNITAD has agreed with Germany to collect data and DNA reference samples from the Yazidi community residing there for a campaign to identify human remains in Iraq, "allowing survivors to eventually mourn their beloved ones". 

The UN news further quoted Ritscher as saying, "As part of this programme, psychosocial support training is provided to Iraqi authorities to ensure international best practice is maintained when dealing with victims and survivors." So far, his team had converted 5.5 million physical pages of documentary evidence of ISIL-related crimes into digital formats and is currently supporting digitization at six different Iraqi sites. 

(With ANI Inputs)