UNSCR 1540

UNSCR 1540

Subject :IR

Section :International Bodies

Context: Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 was passed in the Lok Sabha.

Background:

• UNSCR 1540 undergoes periodic reviews to determine the success of its implementation and to identify gaps in enforcement. In one such review undertaken in 2016, it was concluded that the risk of proliferation to non-state actors is increasing due to rapid advances in science, technology, and international commerce.
• Amendment was necessary to address two specific gaps:
  • First, as the relevant organisations at the international level, such as the Financial Action Task Force have expanded the scope of targeted financial sanctions and demand tighter controls on the financing of WMD activities, India’s own legislation has been harmonised to align with international benchmarks.
  • Secondly, with advancements in technologies, new kinds of threats have emerged that were not sufficiently catered for in the existing legislation.

What is the UNSCR 1540?

• In April 2004 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1540 to address the growing threat of non-state actors gaining access to WMD material, equipment or technology to undertake acts of terrorism.
• In order to address this challenge to international peace and security, UNSCR 1540 established binding obligations on all UN member states under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
• Nations were mandated to take and enforce effective measures against proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery and related materials to non-state actors.
• UNSCR 1540 enforced three primary obligations upon nation states
  • To not provide any form of support to non-state actors seeking to acquire WMD, related materials, or their means of delivery
  • To adopt and enforce laws criminalising the possession and acquisition of such items by non-state actors
  • To adopt and enforce domestic controls over relevant materials, in order to prevent their proliferation.

Significance of the legislation for India

• Preventing acts of terrorism that involve WMD or their delivery systems requires building a network of national and international measures in which all nation states are equally invested. Such actions are necessary to strengthen global enforcement of standards relating to the export of sensitive items and to prohibit even the financing of such activities to ensure that non-state actors, including terrorist and black-market networks, do not gain access to such materials.
• Sharing of best practices on legislations and their implementation can enable harmonisation of global WMD controls.
• Having now updated its own legislation, India can demand the same of others, especially from those in its neighbourhood that have a history of proliferation and of supporting terrorist organisations.

Features of the bill:

https://optimizeias.com/bill-in-lok-sabha-to-ban-weapon-of-mass-destruction-funding/