12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum in New Delhi Adopts Joint Declaration on Terrorism and UN Reform
The 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum was held in New Delhi on 26–27 October 2026, at Samvidhan Sadan in the Parliament House complex. It was chaired by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, as India holds the BRICS chairship in 2026.
Parliaments of all 10 BRICS members took part: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The theme was "Fostering Parliaments for People-Centric Development".
The forum adopted a joint declaration. It condemned "in the strongest terms" the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025 (the Pahalgam attack), rejected double standards in fighting terrorism, and called for finalising the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the UN.
The declaration supported a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, and welcomed the UN reform language of the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration adopted at the 18th BRICS Summit (12–13 September 2026).
It also covered artificial intelligence (AI) and digital public infrastructure, climate action under the Paris Agreement, concern over tensions in West Asia, and opposition to unilateral coercive measures such as secondary sanctions.
The next forum will be held in 2027 under China's BRICS chairship. The declaration also marked 10 years of the BRICS Women Parliamentarians' Forum.
BRICS Parliamentary Forum: How BRICS Parliaments Work Together
The BRICS Parliamentary Forum is a yearly meeting of members of Parliament from the BRICS countries. BRICS is a group of major emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Leaders of these countries meet at the BRICS Summit; the Parliamentary Forum is the place where their parliaments meet. Delegations are usually led by the presiding officers (Speakers or Chairpersons) of each Parliament. Each forum ends with a joint declaration that sets out the shared views of the member parliaments.
The 12th forum in New Delhi is today's news. Its joint declaration repeated India's priorities, condemning the 22 April 2025 attack in Jammu and Kashmir, backing the CCIT and calling for Security Council reform, and showed how India uses its 2026 BRICS chairship across both the leaders' and the parliamentary tracks.
BRICS: Origin, Expansion, and Institutional Character
BRICS is a group of major emerging economies that meet every year to cooperate on economics, politics and people-to-people ties. It began as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China), with a first leaders' summit in 2009; South Africa joined in 2010. It has no charter or permanent secretariat; it works through a rotating yearly chairship and decisions by consensus.
The Parliamentary Forum is one of the many tracks that run under the BRICS chairship. Its declaration built on the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration, especially on UN reform and counter-terrorism.
Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT)
The CCIT is a proposed UN treaty that would give one legal definition of terrorism and require all countries to criminalise it, prosecute or extradite terrorists, and deny them safe havens. India proposed it at the UN in 1996. It has been stuck for decades, mainly because countries cannot agree on how to define terrorism.
The 2026 BRICS Parliamentary Forum declaration called for finalising the CCIT, adding parliamentary backing to a treaty India has pushed for 30 years. It linked this demand to its condemnation of the 22 April 2025 attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Event: 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum, New Delhi, 26–27 October 2026
- Theme: "Fostering Parliaments for People-Centric Development"
- Participants: parliaments of 10 BRICS members; partner countries also invited
- Declaration: condemned the 22 April 2025 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir; called for finalising the CCIT; supported comprehensive UN reform including the Security Council
- 18th BRICS Summit: New Delhi, 12–13 September 2026 (New Delhi Leaders' Declaration)
- India's 2026 BRICS chairship theme: "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability"
- First BRICS Parliamentary Forum: Moscow, 8 June 2015
- Next forum: 2027, China
- CCIT proposed by India: 1996
- BRICS Women Parliamentarians' Forum: Jaipur, August 2016; 10th anniversary marked in 2026