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U.N. Resolution Aims to Close Loopholes in Al-Qaeda Sanctions By Jim Wurst UNITED NATIONS — A new U.N. Security Council resolution on sanctions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban will close some of the loopholes in the current sanctions regime, the chairman of the council’s sanctions committee, Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile, said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 2, 2003). The new resolution will “strengthen the sanctions in the sense of closing the loopholes. We think we can do that,” he said. “At the same time, there is the issue of cooperation, of dialogue. I think we have obtained a great deal of advancement on the sanctions [through] the dialogue directly with the countries,” added Munoz, referring to all 191 U.N. member states. Speaking to reporters after a council session on the sanctions, Munoz said, “You can expect stronger measures.” The new draft resolution, which will be debated in the council on Friday, will deal with “closing the loopholes, recommending new measures, adopting new measures and also continue to engage directly with the countries,” he added. The sanctions panel was established by the council in 1999. In January 2003, the council adopted Resolution 1455 extending the mandate of the group. The sanctions involve bans on financial transactions and travel by individuals linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and an arms embargo against them. The individuals and entities subject to sanctions are on a list maintained by the council. This list is the main tool the committee has in measuring the effectiveness of the sanctions. These sanctions are the only ones the council has imposed on stateless individuals rather than a government. Presenting his report on the work of the sanctions committee to the council, Munoz said that the “principal underlying objective” for 2004 is that “we need to help ensure that all states continue to focus on the terrorist challenge and that their national counterterrorism measures encompass appropriate policies and actions.” Munoz’s report was based largely on the results of trips in October and December to 10 countries in Europe, the Arabian Gulf and West and Southeast Asia. “As our work becomes more focused, we believe a … frank exchange in New York and in capitals will move the international community’s counterterrorism efforts forward,” he said. The arms embargo is “the most difficult of the measures in the sanctions regime to implement,” he said, since arms production and sales are “generally seen as matters of national security, thus rendering it difficult to assess the effectiveness of this crucial measure.” In addition, while most countries interpret the arms embargo as referring to conventional weapons, Munoz said not enough attention is being paid to technologies and materials that could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction. Only one-third of the 93 states that have submitted reports to the committee provide information on such materials, he added. He told the council that the travel ban “is intrinsically dependent on the quality and credibility of the list.” Countries are reluctant to put individuals that are on the list on their national stop lists because of “the absence of sufficient identifiers,” Munoz said. European countries in particular have expressed concern that being placed on the list without due process may violate peoples’ rights. Governments “need a quantity of information that our consolidated list in some cases does not have,” he said after the council meeting. “We ought to be able to implement the sanctions with due consideration to human rights and due process and at the same time, not to curtail efficiency in the implementation of sanctions,” Munoz told reporters. “Those are the parameters that we are going to work with.” While “many states have taken positive steps towards curbing the financing of al-Qaeda activities,” Munoz said, some governments “have yet to show the same preparedness.” He added, “One area where improvement is warranted is the freezing of assets other than bank accounts,” such as seizing real estate. Al-Qaeda continues to use “alternate remittance systems” and charities to hide and move money, Munoz added.
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