CHAIRMEN OF 1267, COUNTER-TERRORISM, AND 1540

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000408 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL UNSC PTER KNNP EFIN KTFN SUBJECT: CHAIRMEN OF 1267, COUNTER-TERRORISM, AND 1540 COMMITTEES BRIEF SECURITY COUNCIL REF: A. SECSTATE 47575 ¶B. USUN 01042 (2007) ¶1. The Chairmen of the UN Security Council's 1267 (Al-Qaida/Taliban) Sanctions Committee, Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC),and 1540 Committee briefed the Security Council in a public meeting on May 6, 2008, in the ninth such meeting of its kind. The Chairmen, Ambassador Verbeke of Belgium (1267 Committee),Ambassador Jurica of Croatia (CTC), and Ambassador Urbina of Costa Rica (1540 Committee), described their committees' accomplishments over the past six months and outlined their future plans. Ambassador Jurica also delivered a joint statement on behalf of the three Chairmen (but not the committees) concerning the cooperation among the three committees. The Chairmen did not speak in their national capacities, but all other Council members made statements. Australia, Cuba, India, Israel, Japan, Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union, Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Norway, Ukraine, and Armenia),Qatar, Syria, and Venezuela also spoke. ¶2. Ambassador Wolff delivered the U.S. statement (ref A), which focused on ways in which the committees can counter the dual threats of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Ambassador Wolff said the United States believes a concentration on capacity building is essential and urged the committees to act on the findings of their evaluation of states' reporting. The United States is pleased to play its own part in addressing states' technical assistance needs, Ambassador Wolff said, highlighting the $2 billion the United States has provided annually to support implementation of resolution 1540, the Antiterrorism Assistance Programs, and the work of USAID and other agencies to address the conditions that terrorists exploit for recruitment and ideological purposes. ¶3. Many of the other speakers stressed the need for the three committees and their experts' groups to improve coordination of their efforts, including through joint visits to states, the facilitation of technical assistance, and information sharing. Burkina Faso, for instance, said the recent workshop in Senegal organized by the three committees to help African states submit their reports illustrated the benefits of such cooperation. South Africa went even farther, arguing that the Security Council must adopt decisions to consolidate the three committees' work. Panama, on the other hand, cautioned that any proposal for merging the committees' work must be examined carefully, given their different mandates. Similarly, many delegations stressed the importance of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, looked forward to the General Assembly's September review of the Strategy, and called upon the three committees and their experts' groups to coordinate their efforts more closely with those of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force in the UN Secretariat. ¶4. Many speakers also emphasized the need to update the 1267 Committee's consolidated sanctions list to make it more responsive to the threats posed by Al-Qa'ida and the Taliban; called for the 1267 to adopt clearer procedures for listing, de-listing, and humanitarian exemptions; and supported a renewal of the 1267 Monitoring Team's mandate. France also called on the Committee to identify cases of non-compliance with the sanctions and deal with them appropriately. Indonesia argued that rather than reflecting a lack of political will, instances of non-compliance may instead stem from legal deficiencies that prevent states from implementing the targeted sanctions. ¶5. Most speakers welcomed the Security Council's extension of the mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) in resolution 1805 (2008),praised CTED's new organizational plan, and identified potential areas for the CTC and CTED to pursue. Many delegations called on the CTC and CTED to work more closely with other international and regional organizations and welcomed CTED's new focus on dialogue with states and transparency. ¶6. Most delegations welcomed the Security Council's adoption of resolution 1810 (2008),extending the mandate of the 1540 Committee, and highlighted specific areas on which the Committee should focus. France, for instance, argued that the Committee's work has shown significant gaps in states' implementation of the provisions of resolution 1540 concerning biological weapons and their means of delivery as well as proliferation financing. Notably, South Africa devoted much of its intervention to discussing resolution ¶1540. South Africa argued (as it has before; see ref B) that non-proliferation and disarmament are mutually reinforcing but, notably, did not reiterate its previous characterizations of resolution 1540 as a stop-gap measure that must be supplemented by a new treaty negotiated by the General Assembly. Instead, South Africa stressed the need for closer international cooperation to combat the illicit trade in technology that could be used to manufacture WMD and stressed its successful prosecution of members of illicit proliferation networks. ¶7. As in previous open meetings of the Security Council, Cuba and Venezuela accused the United States of failing to comply with its obligations under counterterrorism resolutions and conventions by providing safe haven to Luis Posada Carriles. Cuba also demanded the immediate release of the five Cuban nationals convicted in U.S. Federal Court of conspiracy to commit espionage, among other charges. Cuba and Venezuela called upon the CTC to investigate what they described as U.S. non-compliance with its obligations under resolution 1373 (2001) in connection with the matter. Cuba accused the United States of following a double standard by failing to incarcerate Posada while imprisoning five Cuban "freedom fighters." Drawing on the Department's guidance (ref A),USUN responded by providing an update of recent U.S. actions, consistent with both international law and U.S. domestic legal requirements, with respect to Posada and the five convicted Cuban spies. ¶8. A verbatim transcript of the meeting can be found at http://daccessdds.un.orgdoc/UNDOCGEN/N08/328/ 78/PDf/N0832878.pdf? OpenElement. Khalilzad