What is Bishkek Declaration?
- Bishkek Declaration is related to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Heads of State Council.
- The member states stressed that acts of terrorism and extremism cannot be justified.
- India and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) have condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
- The members have also called on the international community to promote cooperation in combatting the menace.
- The SCO member states also urged the global community to work towards a consensus on adopting the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
What is Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT)?
The CCIT was proposed by India in 1996.
CCIT provides a legal framework which makes it binding on all signatories to deny funds and safe havens to terrorist groups.
It included following major objectives:
- To have a universal definition of terrorism that all 193-members of the UNGA will adopt into their own criminal law
- To ban all terror groups and shut down terror camps
- To prosecute all terrorists under special laws
- To make cross-border terrorism an extraditable offence worldwide.
What is Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)?
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact, is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
- India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
- The SCO is widely regarded as the "alliance of the East", due to its growing centrality in Asia-Pacific, and has been the primary security pillar of the region.
- It is the largest regional organisation in the world in terms of geographical coverage and population. This organization represents approximately 42% of the world’s population, 22% of its land area and 20% of its GDP. The organization, for reference purposes, works on the basis of consensus.
