Sanctions against Al-Qaida, Taliban strengthened by Security Council

Renewing for another 17 months its global sanctions regime against Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden and the Taliban, the United Nations Security Council today expanded the list of persons or splinter groups associated with terrorist networks.

Unanimously adopting a resolution, the Council reiterated its unequivocal condemnation of those groups for "ongoing and multiple criminal terrorist acts," which have killed innocent civilians, destroyed property and greatly undermined stability.

The text renews the sanctions initially outlined in 1999, and strengthened by subsequent resolutions, which require all 191 UN Member States to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against Usama bin Laden, the Taliban and those "associated with" them, and to freeze their financial assets.

The new resolution spells out for the first time who is included among those associated with Al-Qaida and the Taliban and can be subjected to the measures.

It states that sanctions would apply to those who participate in financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating acts to support the outlawed groups and who recruit, supply, sell or transfer weapons to bin Laden, Al-Qaida, the Taliban "or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof."

Also, the Council extended for 17 months the mandate of the Al-Qaida Sanction's Committee's New York-based Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team and gave guidelines for the inclusion of individuals and entities associated with Usama bin Laden and the Taliban as referred to in the Consolidated List created following the adoption of its resolutions in 1999 and 2000.

The Council also requested the Secretary-General to increase cooperation between the UN and Interpol in order to provide the Sanctions Committee with better tools to fulfil its mandate and urged Member States to ensure that stolen and lost passports and other travel documents were invalidated as soon as possible, as well as to share information on those documents with other Member States through Interpol's database.

For the first time, the Council urged all UN Member States to implement the comprehensive global standards adopted by the Financial Action Task Force, and inter-governmental body developing and promoting national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.