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International Response: U.N. Counterterrorism Group Enters Phase Three By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council yesterday extended the mandate of its counterterrorism committee for six months as the committee enters the third phase of its work — evaluating the 143 country reports submitted so far on combating terrorism. “The CTC will check the facts of the legislative picture, the administrative action taken and the way in which these tools are being used to prevent the territory of each state being abused by terrorists,” said U.K. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, the chair of the committee, during a council debate yesterday. The committee has requested additional information from seven countries that have submitted reports, including North Korea. “There may be further work to do,” Greenstock said. “The CTC will preserve the potential for dialogue with all states, although this will vary in intensity according to the capacity developed by the state concerned.” The Security Council called on the committee to explore ways to assist states in implementing the council’s counterterrorism resolution, 1373, and “to identify issues on which concerted international action would further the implementation of the letter and spirit of the resolution.” The resolution, which was unanimously adopted two weeks after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, contains a long list of legally binding demands on member states to suppress and prevent terrorism. The demands include assuring that terrorists do not abuse states’ immigration and financial laws, that terror suspects are not allowed safe haven and that there are adequate controls on conventional and mass destruction weapons. The resolution set up the CTC to monitor implementation. In general, each country report lists relevant pre-existing domestic laws and legislation passed after the adoption of 1373, as well as the international terrorism conventions to which the reporting country is party. Political declarations are often included, with some countries identifying themselves as victims of terrorism, stressing the need for a definition of terrorism or making the distinction between terrorism and the fight for sovereignty. Most of the countries that have found themselves on the front lines of the terrorism debate have filed with the committee. These include the five permanent members of the council, Germany (where many of the Sept. 11 bombers lived), Saudi Arabia (the homeland of 14 of the 19 bombers and of suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden), Pakistan, Israel, Egypt, and the three countries the United States has called an “axis of evil” — Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Greenstock told the council that the committee has received 143 reports and has reviewed and responded to 62 governments. That leaves 46 states that have not submitted reports, as well as reports expected from some regional groups and non-U.N. members. Greenstock in the past has described the states that have not submitted reports as “willing but less capable,” meaning they often lack domestic mechanisms to complete the complicated demands of the resolution, rather than deliberately ignoring the council. “We understand that putting together a full report may be difficult for countries which have little experience of dealing with terrorism or for whom the preparation of such a report is a significant strain on their government machinery, but it is extremely important that all states are in dialogue with the CTC,” he told the council. The three subcommittees of the CTC include council members and outside experts named to assist the committee on issues including international law and financial controls. Since January, the subcommittees have been examining these reports. In the first reaction to country reports, the committee sent letters in mid-March to seven states asking questions raised by their original reports. The committee asked Bahrain, Canada, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Grenada, North Korea and Uruguay to respond by June 7. The letters, from Greenstock to the president of the council, say the committee has “set out its preliminary comments” and “has been requested [governments] to provide a response.” The specific requests are not published. North Korea’s report lists the anti-terrorism treaties it has signed but, unlike many other reports, says nothing about domestic legislation. The committee is nearing the point where it will have to make judgments about governments’ reports. Ambassador James Cunningham of the United States said in this next phase, the CTC “will be addressing concerns about failures to implement 1373 or to comply with all of its provisions.” According to Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov, “The CTC should not and will not serve as a repressive organ or move beyond its mandate.” Lack of a definition of terrorism “has encouraged some to ignore international law, norms and values leading to grave violations of human rights,” said Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe. By not differentiating between individual and state terrorism, he said, accusations of terrorism can be made “in a selective manner, covering some acts and setting other acts outside this definition.” Signaling what is expected to be the biggest fight over the committee’s work, Wehbe said, “The international community must be more objective, more courageous in describing acts of destruction and killing perpetrated against the Palestinian people languishing under occupation, a people suffering the severest form of terrorism.”
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