UN/COUNTERTERRORISM: 1267, CTC, AND 1540 COMMITTEE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000375 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO/UNP: RHOTZ AND IO/PSC: BFITZGERALD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC ETTC PREL PGOV SUBJECT: UN/COUNTERTERRORISM: 1267, CTC, AND 1540 COMMITTEE CHAIRS BRIEF SECURITY COUNCIL IN PUBLIC SESSION REF: 2005 USUN 2523 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In a public meeting on 21 February 2006, the Chairmen of the UN Security Council's three subsidiary counterterrorism committees (the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC),the 1267 or Al-Qaida/Taliban Sanctions Committee, and the 1540 Committee on nonproliferation) briefed the Council on their committees' accomplishments, challenges, priorities, and future plans. This was the fourth briefing by the Council's three counterterrorism-related committees, reflecting the Council's continuing effort to enhance coordination and cooperation among them and their respective expert bodies. Following the briefings, all Council members and seven non-Council Member States spoke. Listing and de-listing, reporting requirements, and support for greater cross-committee cooperation were common themes. Venezuela alleged the Council was applying its counterterrorism resolutions selectively and accused the United States of not complying with its obligations under those resolutions, as it had done at the last briefing (reftel). Statements by the Chairmen and Member States have been sent electronically to IO/PSC. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) The Chairmen of the Counter-Terrorism, 1267, and 1540 committees briefed the Security Council at a public meeting on February 21, 2006. CTC Chairman and Danish PermRep Ellen Margrethe Loj said the Committee's Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) had been declared operational on 15 December 2005 and expressed her hope that the CTC could now make greater progress in helping States meet their obligations under UNSCR 1373. She reported that, together with CTED, the CTC had cleared the backlog of reports from States concerning their implementation of that resolution. To facilitate technical assistance to States, the CTC has established policy guidelines and is continuing its focus on visiting States upon their consent. ¶3. (U) The 1267 Chairman, Argentinean PermRep Cesar Mayoral, used his briefing to highlight significant achievements of the Committee, including partial revision of the guidelines and enhanced cooperation with Interpol. (Note: Revision of the guidelines included procedures to address exemption requests. End Note) Mayoral expressed the Committee's support for Afghanistan's reconciliation process and noted efforts to remove from the sanctions list those former Taliban who have been successfully reconciled with the government. In addition, the 1267 Chair welcomed the Secretary-General's pledge to develop a uniform approach to SIPDIS ensure that no UN agency enters into a contractual relationship with an individual or entity on the 1267 Consolidated List. Looking ahead, Mayoral stressed the importance of resolving the Committee's pending issues and continuing work on revising listing and de-listing guidelines. ¶4. (U) Slovak PermRep and 1540 Committee Chairman Peter Burian said the Committee's main task is to finish its examination of additional information that States have submitted to the Committee. After successfully examining all of the first reports that Member States submitted, the Committee has requested additional follow-up information on all States' first reports. While 64 States have submitted follow-up information to the Committee, another 67 States have yet to submit any report. The Ambassador stressed the need for the Committee to conduct outreach to facilitate States' reporting and said he would meet with the members of the African Group next month for that purpose. ¶5. (U) While all three Chairmen urged non-reporting States to submit their reports as soon as possible, they also noted their committees' intention to address jointly the issue of how to improve reporting and address late reporting. They also stressed the need to respond to the 2005 World Summit Outcome's recommendation that the Security Council consider consolidating States reporting to the three committees. ¶6. In their interventions, Greece, France, and the UK all aligned themselves with the statement of Austrian PermRep Gerhard Pfanzelter on behalf of the European Union. -------------- COUNTER-TERRORISM COMMITTEE (CTC) -------------- ¶7. (U) Many Council members welcomed the CTC's December 2005 decision to declare CTED operational and hoped CTED would strengthen the CTC's ability to facilitate technical assistance. Greece, alone among the Council members, praised CTED Executive Director Javier Ruperez by name, although various delegations thanked CTED for its contributions. The United Kingdom stressed that CTED should have clear objectives and establish concrete ways to measure its achievements. ¶8. (U) Some Council members stressed the importance of CTED's visits to States, as well as the need for effective follow up to those visits, while several non-members also commented on CTED's visits. A non-Council member, Indonesia, called on CTED to coordinate its visits with the 1267 Monitoring Team "to avoid visit fatigue." Algeria, which recently left the Council, praised CTED's recent visit to Algeria and hoped that other Member States, including Security Council members, would volunteer to host visits. As part of a broader criticism of the United States (see para 16),Venezuela called on the CTC to conduct a visit to the United States to monitor U.S. implementation of resolution 1373 and demonstrate the Council's objectivity in countering terrorism. ¶9. (U) The incorporation of a human rights perspective in the CTC's work was another common theme in several interventions. Greece and Peru both called for the need to promote observance of human rights in counterterrorism efforts, and France said respect for human rights is "a requirement" to ensure legitimacy in the fight against terror. Austria strongly encouraged the CTC, with help from its human rights expert, to mainstream "human rights through its entire work." Brazil, which recently left the Council, also stressed the need to ensure that the CTC's work protects human rights, citing the General Assembly's most recent resolution on human rights and terrorism. ¶10. (U) Several Council members urged the CTC to place priority on assisting States in implementing UNSCR 1624 (2005). Russia highlighted the importance of the resolution's language on combating incitement, while Qatar underscored the resolution's provision on enhancing dialogue between civilizations, calling on the CTC to deal "determinedly" with the issue. The UK praised CTED's work relating to resolution 1624, announced that it would submit information to the CTC on its implementation of resolution 1624, and encouraged other States to do the same. -------------- 1267 COMMITTEE -------------- ¶11. (U) Council members and seven non-Council Member States touched on common themes in their responses to Ambassador Mayoral's briefing. Many States welcomed the Committee's cooperation with Interpol and hailed the concrete results already realized. Japan noted the "Interpol - UN Security Council Special Notices" would provide States with access to more information about individuals on the Consolidated List. The need for more detailed biographic information to further clarify and improve the quality of the sanctions list was raised by many delegations. Non-Council member Indonesia pledged to provide more identifying information for individuals on the Consolidated List in order to improve the effectiveness of the sanctions regime. ¶12. (U) As in the last joint briefing, several delegations, including the UK, France, Peru, and Ghana, expressed concern over a lack of transparency and urged the Committee do revise its listing and de-listing guidelines. Even China stated that further improvement was needed. Greece called for the Committee to meet "international due process standards" in order to improve effectiveness of the sanctions and the credibility of the Committee. Qatar noted its "great concern" with the 1267 Committee and announced that it would present proposals for "just and honest procedures" regarding listing and de-listing. ¶13. (SBU) In a veiled reference to the U.S. and UK decision to place a hold on China's request to add the East Turkistan Liberation Organization (ETLO/SHAT) to the 1267 Committee's sanctions list, Chinese PermRep Wang said the threat of terrorism was everywhere and that Council members needed to realize that a terrorist threat to one State posed a threat to all. He explained that a "poisonous snake will hurt people no matter what it wears." Wang said there was little hope that counterterrorism efforts could improve if Council members put up "barriers" or "shielded terrorist forces." -------------- 1540 COMMITTEE -------------- ¶14. (U) Some Council members and several non-members expressed concern that many States have failed to submit reports on their implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), and several referred to the need for more assistance to help States to implement the resolution. Peru announced its intention to convene a regional seminar on 1540 implementation in Lima in 2006, which would follow up on a similar seminar held in Buenos Aires last year. Ghana said the failure of African States to submit reports did not reflect "inertia," but revealed a lack of capacity. Ghana then informed the Council that it was "seriously considering" hosting an African regional program on implementation of resolution 1540. China called on the Committee to focus on producing by April a "comprehensive and balanced" report for the Council. Austria said the EU would be "glad" to consider requests for assistance to enable States to submit reports to the Committee. ¶15. (U) Most Council members and several non-members expressed support for an extension of the 1540 Committee's mandate, which expires on April 27, 2006. Russia expressed its satisfaction with the Committee's "active" work. Russia also said that it supports a two-year extension of the Committee's mandate as did France. The UK announced its strong support for renewing the mandate and commented that there is "no need to review the basic parameters of the resolution." If the Committee's mandate is extended, the Committee should focus on promoting States' implementation of the resolution, rather than on amassing information. In particular, the Committee should focus on how to "unlock" technical assistance to states that need it and on arranging more regional seminars on implementation of the resolution. Many states said they looked forward to discussing the details of what the Committee's renewed mandate would entail. Alone among the speakers who intervened, Brazil said that the Council should not extend the Committee's mandate, arguing that the work of the Committee falls properly under the purview of the General Assembly. -------------- U.S. DOUBLE STANDARD ON TERRORISM -------------- ¶16. (U) Venezuela lambasted the Council for its "double standards" in combating terrorism and specifically criticized the United States. Echoing its intervention at the last public briefing by the three committees (reftel),Venezuela called for the United States to extradite Venezuelan national Luis Faustino Clemente Posada Carriles to stand trial for alleged terrorists acts against Cuba. Among other things, Venezuela also complained that the United States had failed to take action against Pat Robertson for calling publicly for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela said it had ratified a large number of the international conventions and protocols, developed broad legislation to combat terrorism, and created a national authority responsible for counterterrorism, representing its "consistent, diligent" response to implementing resolution ¶1373. Ambassador Bolton reponded that Posada has been detained and is in U.S. custody while his case is being processed, and that any Venezuelan extradition request would be acted upon according to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and Venezuela. BOLTON