UNSC Resolution on Terror Financing

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution which ordered countries worldwide to step up the fight against terrorism financing by ensuring they have laws that make it a serious crime to fund terrorist acts.

UNSC Resolution

• This resolution is the first stand-alone measure dedicated specifically to counter the financing of terrorism.
• The resolution asks the states to ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offences to prosecute those who collect funds or provide economic resources to terrorist organizations.
• The resolution urges countries to establish financial intelligence units to strengthen efforts to counter terrorism financing and to share information on their investigations.
• The resolution will help the FATF to mount pressure on more than 50 countries to pass new legislation on countering terror financing.

The UNSC has adopted resolution for sanctions to choking off the revenue to the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Qaeda-linked fighter. The resolution encompasses in one text various initiatives contained in a range of resolutions.

How the resolution will aid in curbing terror activities?

Since the binding resolution was drafted under chapter 7 of the UN Charter it can be enforced with sanctions. This will force the nations to act.

The recent attacks like the Pulwama Terror Attack has shown that terror groups have access to financial flows through legal and illegal means. The resolution takes a step in curbing the inflows to the terrorist groups.

FATF notes that less than a fifth of countries were applying laws that prosecute suspected terror financiers as criminals. The resolution aims to change that.

The resolution would also contribute to halting ransom payments for kidnappings by terror groups, which have become a major source of funding.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2019