04 October 2001
United Kingdom Named Chair of the UN Terrorism Committee
(Committee to monitor compliance with new UNSC res) (790)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The United Kingdom has been named chairman of the
United Nations Security Council's new "terrorism committee" which will
monitor compliance by all UN member states with the Council's latest
resolution aimed at preventing and suppressing the financing of
terrorist acts.
Colombia, Mauritius and Russia will serve as vice chairmen, according
to an announcement October 4 by Security Council President Richard
Ryan of Ireland. The other eleven members of the Council will make up
the remainder of the committee.
The committee, which is being referred to as the "terrorism
committee," was mandated under resolution 1373 adopted on September
28, 2001. All UN member states must comply with the resolution, which
was adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
Resolution 1373 requires nations to "freeze without delay funds and
other financial assets or economic resources of persons who commit, or
attempt to commit, terrorist acts or participate in or facilitate the
commission of terrorist acts." Nations are also to "refrain from
providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or
persons involved in terrorist acts, including by suppressing
recruitment of members of terrorist groups and eliminating the supply
of weapons to terrorists."
Nations are also to prohibit their nationals or people in their
territories from making funds or services available to those involved
in terrorism; refrain from providing support to people involved in
terrorism; take steps to prevent terrorist acts; and deny safe haven
to those who commit terrorist acts. Nations should also bring to
justice anyone who participated in terrorism and ensure that terrorist
acts are serious criminal offenses in their domestic laws and are
punished accordingly.
The UNSC resolution also says that UN member states should help each
other with criminal investigations and criminal proceedings,
intensifying and accelerating the exchange of information. They also
should prevent the movement of terrorists and terrorist groups by
effective border controls as well as through controls on the issuance
of identity papers and travel documents and measures for preventing
counterfeiting, forgery or fraudulent use of identity papers and
travel documents.
Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, committee chairman, held the first
formal meeting of the group October 4 soon after his appointment was
announced.
Vice chairmen are Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia,
Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius, and Ambassador Sergey Lavrov
of Russia.
"It has been established by the Security Council that the threat of
terrorism is a threat to international peace and security and it is in
that context that the Security Council will be following-up 1373,"
Greenstock told journalists outside the Council chambers.
"It's the responsibility of the terrorism committee to liaise with
member states on the mandatory action that they will take under 1373
to carry out the requirements of that resolution, to assist member
states if they want assistance from the Security Council or from the
UN in that purpose," the UK Ambassador said.
"We will be working very closely with the Secretary General, with the
Secretariat and a certain amount of outside expertise in that business
and will report back to the Council with analysis and information on
the whole process of implementation of 1373," said Greenstock.
In the next few weeks the committee will inform member states of
exactly what reporting and what information is required. Greenstock
said that after that the committee will begin to discuss procedures
for checking and verifying the information submitted. In the meantime,
nations must submit their reports on what actions they have taken to
the committee within 90 days.
The chairman also stressed that "it will not be for the committee to
make judgments or decision or follow-up. That will be for the Security
Council as a whole. It is for the committee to monitor, to inform, to
collect information and to analyze, but not to make judgments or
decisions."
Council President Ryan was asked about the possibility of the Council
imposing sanctions on members states that do not comply with the
resolution. He noted that adhering to the resolution "will take some
time" and some member states will need help on how they should address
their administrations, legal systems, and so on in order to comply and
Council members envisage the United Nations providing that help.
Ryan was doubtful that sanctions would be necessary, because, he said,
after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States "we have
gotten to a point where the whole of the United Nations has swung
around enthusiastically and cooperatively...behind the terms of this
resolution."
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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