Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee

The Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee (previously known as the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee) was established on 15 October 1999, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1267 concerning Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban and associated individuals and entities. It has subsequently been modified to deal with issues limited to al-Qaeda. The Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee is one of three Security Council committees dealing with counter-terrorism. The other two committees are the Counter-Terrorism Committee established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001), and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to Resolution 1540 (2004).

Resolution 1267 (1999) and subsequent resolutions have all been adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and require all UN Member States to inter alia: "freeze the assets of, prevent the entry into or transit through their territories by, and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of arms and military equipment to any individual or entity associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and/or the Taliban as designated by the Committee".

On 17 June 2011, Resolution 1989 was adopted, so that the sanctions measures now apply to designated individuals and entities associated solely with al-Qaeda. On this same date, Resolution 1988 was adopted, creating a new committee dealing exclusively with sanctions relating to the Taliban.

The Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, like other Security Council committees, is composed of Member State representatives from the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council. These are the five permanent members, China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, and ten other rotating members. The current Chairman of the Committee is H.E. Mr. Gary Quinlan, the Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations. The two Vice-Chairs are from Guatemala and the Russian Federation. Chair positions do not carry extraordinary decision-making power as the Committee takes all its decisions by consensus.[1]

Upon the adoption of Resolution 1267 (1999), the Committee lacked a Chairperson, and its first and only meeting held in 1999 was chaired by the then President of the United Nations Security Council, H.E. Sir Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom. The first Chairman of the Committee was H.E. Ambassador Arnoldo Listre of Argentina, who held the post until the end of 2000. The post was subsequently held by the Ambassadors of Colombia (2001–2002), Chile (2003–2004), Argentina (2005–2006), Belgium (2007–2008), Austria (2009–2010), and Germany (2011-2012).

Resolutions

The Al-Qaida sanctions regime has been modified and strengthened by a number of subsequent resolutions.

The following paragraphs summarize the relevant Security Council resolutions which have served in the strengthening of the 1267 (now Al-Qaida) sanctions regime:

Al-Qaida Sanctions List (previously known as the Consolidated List)

Pursuant to resolution 1390 (2002) the committee established and maintains a list[4] which serves as the foundation for the implementation and enforcement of the sanctions measures imposed against those individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaeda as designated by the Committee. The list is split into two sections covering: (1) individuals associated with Al-Qaeda and (2) entities and other groups and undertakings associated with Al-Qaeda.

The List, whose count changes frequently due to listings and de-listings, contains approximately 310 individuals and entities against whom three sanctions measures: (1) assets freeze, (2) travel ban, and (3) arms embargo, must be applied by all Member States. The Committee oversees the implementation of these three sanctions measures, considers names submitted for listing and de-listing, as well as any additional information on the listed individuals and entities.

According to the Committee’s website,[5] the list as of 9 September 2014 currently consists of:

In accordance with paragraph 14 of resolution 1904 (2009), the Committee has made accessible Narrative Summaries of the reasons for listing for most of the names on the List.[6]

Monitoring Team

The Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee is assisted by a Monitoring Team of eight experts based in New York supported by a team of professional UN staff. The Team have expertise on Al-Qaida and associates, the Taliban, counter-terrorism legislation, terrorist financing, border security and arms embargoes. The Monitoring Team was established by Security Council resolution 1526 (2004) and extended by subsequent resolutions.

In the summer of 2014 it was also given two new specific mandates. The first was to prepare a report analyzing the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front (ANF), coming up with recommendations for actions by the Security Council. This was mandated in Security Council resolution 2170. The second was to report on foreign terrorist fighters, recommending potential responses, mandated in Security Council resolution 2178.

The Monitoring Team assists the Committee in evaluating the implementation of the sanctions regime by Member States, conducting on-the-ground analysis, reporting on developments that may have an impact on the effectiveness of the sanctions regime as well as the changing nature of the threat posed by Al-Qaida.[7] The Team also assists the Committee in working with Member States to update, and maintain the accuracy of, the Al-Qaida Sanctions List and assists the Committee in its conduct of all the reviews mandated by the Security Council. The team publishes periodic public reports on the nature of the threat along with recommendations for the Committee.

The Monitoring Team is also part of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force which assists Member States in the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.[8]

Office of the Ombudsperson

The Office of the Ombudsperson of the 1267 Committee was established to serve as an independent and impartial intermediary, who reviews requests from individuals, groups, undertakings or entities seeking to be removed from the Al-Qaida Sanctions List of the Committee.[9]

Upon establishing the Office through Security Council resolution 1904 (2009), the United Nations issued a press release stating that the individual serving as the Ombudsperson should be “an eminent individual of high moral character, impartiality and integrity with high qualifications and experience in relevant fields, such as legal, human rights, counter-terrorism and sanctions”. The full responsibilities of the Ombudsperson’s Office are set out in Annex II of the resolution.[10]

The first and current Ombudsperson for the Al-Qaida Committee is Judge Kimberly Prost, who was appointed by the Secretary-General on 3 June 2010. Before her appointment, Judge Prost served in a number of positions both at the United Nations and the Canadian Department of Justice, and served as an ad litem judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from July 2006 to June 2010.[11] The Office of the Ombudsperson is based at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

References

  1. United Nations 1267 Security Council Committee, General Information, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/information.shtml
  2. United Nations 1267 Security Council Committee, Useful Papers, Information Package on the Work and Mandate of The Security Council Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee, Annex II, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/pdf/Information%20package%20-%202009.08%20-%20English.pdf
  3. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sc10859.doc.htm
  4. list
  5. United Nations 1267 Security Council Committee, Consolidated List, II. Composition of List, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/consolist.shtml
  6. United Nations 1267 Security Council Committee, Narrative Summaries of Reasons for Listing, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/narrative.shtml
  7. United Nations 1267 Security Council Committee, General Information, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/information.shtml
  8. Main Actors of the United Nations System in Counter-Terrorism Efforts, http://www.un.org/terrorism/pdfs/CT_organigram_2010_CT.pdf
  9. United Nations Office of the Ombudsperson of the Security Council’s 1267 Committee, http://www.un.org/en/sc/ombudsperson/
  10. United Nations press release following the adoption of resolution 1904 (2009), http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/sc9825.doc.htm
  11. United Nations Office of the Ombudsperson of the Security Council’s 1267 Committee, Biography of Judge Kimberly Prost, http://www.un.org/en/sc/ombudsperson/bio.shtml

Further reading

External links