International Institutions: Law and Politics Against Terrorism - Assignment Example

INTRODUCTION The threat of Terrorism has steadily increased over the last 30 years and has cast its shadow over the peace and security of the international community as a whole. The advancement of technology and giant leaps in communication has made terrorist acts much more destructive and the perpetrators of those acts more elusive. Major world power like USA, peace loving country like India and many other have been victimized by the current wave of terrorism that began in the late 1960s. The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” Within this definition, there are three key elements—violence, fear, and intimidation—and each element produce terror in its victims1. The FBI uses this: "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives2." The U.S. Department of State defines "terrorism" to be "premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience3.  The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is assigned with the task of maintaining international peace and security the United Nations Charter outline and define its powers which include the establishment of peacekeeping mechanisms, establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military actions against any state who poses a threat to international peace and security4. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council resolutions. There are fifteen members of the Security Council out of which five are permanent members. These permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States and ten elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. The five permanent members consist of veto-wielding power. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time to address any crisis. International law protects “peace, security and the well being of the world” as the fundamental values of the international community. These concepts have a very broad scope and encompass not only the absence of military conflict between states but also the conditions within a state. Therefore if a state functions within its own territories in a way that causes massive violations of these essential principles like manufacturing weapons of mass destructions, carrying out activities like genocide or practicing terrorism, then it is indeed a potential threat to the world community. The maxim “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” is very relevant here. The world has become a small global village wherein we are so interconnected that the act of one will affect another directly or indirectly. Actions of each and every state are now a matter of concern and should be closely scrutinized to prevent an era of disharmony leading to a situation like that of world wars. It is now one of the major threats faced by the world community and is a matter of rising concern before the United Nations. Now with Osama Bin Laden claimed to be dead, this issue has all the more been highlighted. Osama was one of the best minds who designed new and innovative methods to take terrorism to new heights. His atrocity has had no limits and his threats have moved even the most powerful governments. No doubt Osama is a huge loss to all the terror groups and his death has hit them hard. Now that USA is claiming to have killed him and Al Queda has sworn to avenge USA for the same, we are all waiting to see what future holds; an end of the era of terrorism or its new begging. SECURITY COUNCIL AND TERRORISM The Security Council has been consistently dealing with terrorism issues since the early 1990s. It has taken a number of resolutions in the past to curb and control the menace of terrorism. Its actions took the form of sanctions against States considered to have links to certain acts of terrorism: Libya (1992); Sudan (1996) and the Taliban (1999- expanded to include Al-Qaida in 2000 by resolution 1333)5. As an antecedent to the intensification of its counter-terrorism work since 2001 9/11, the adoption of resolution 1269 in 1999 was taken. In this the Council urged countries to work together to prevent and suppress all terrorist acts. The Security Council had established a strong counter-terrorism tool via 1267 Committee. This committee was established in the year 1999 by resolution 1267 and was assigned the task of monitoring the sanctions against the Taliban6. The Council in a subsequent resolutions urged Member States to take action against groups and organizations engaged in terrorist activities that were not subject to the 1267 Committees review. After the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States this committee subsequently added up Al-Qaida as well in the year 2000. During the 1990s, and particularly since 9/11, state-sponsored terrorism gradually declined, while transnational terrorism, which largely operates without direct state support and features cross-border network structures and a greater propensity to mass-casualty attacks, has gained in importance. As an aftermath of 9/11 attack on trade centre, the Security Council established a Counter-Terrorism Committee also comprising all members of the Security Council, under resolution 1373 to assist the Committees work in the year 2004. This committee is under a duty to monitor the implementation of resolution 1373 and to facilitate the provision of technical assistance to Member states. The resolution obliges Member States to take a number of measures to prevent terrorist activities and to criminalize various forms of terrorist actions, as well as to take measures that assist and promote cooperation among countries including adherence to international counter-terrorism instruments7. Member States are also required to report regularly to the Counter Terrorism Committee on the measures they have taken to implement resolution 1373. The council also took another resolution 1540 in the same year by which it established an additional counter-terrorism related body: the 1540 Committee. The task of this committee was of monitoring Member States compliance with resolution 1540, which calls on States to prevent non-State actors (including terrorist groups) from accessing weapons of mass destruction8. The Resolution 1566 was also taken in the year 2004. In this resolution the Council condemned terrorism as one of the most serious threats to the welfare, peace and security of the globe and called on countries to get together in fighting the same. The council pointed out that terrorism is a transnational crime in true sense. It has no borders; the terrorist organizations operate from some other state to inflict injury to some other state. Therefore a major problem that arises while prosecution is the problem of jurisdiction, and most of the times the accused or the mastermind is out of touch. The prosecution becomes impossible because there is no one to prosecute. The Council proposed that anyone supporting terrorist acts or participating in the planning of such schemes must be prosecuted or extradited by all means. It also proposed other effective procedures appropriate for bringing them to justice like freezing financial assets, travel restrictions and arms embargoes apart from prosecution or extradition. It acted under the Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and set up a working group whose duty is to consider and recommend measures to be imposed against "individuals, groups or entities involved in or associated with terrorist activities". It also has a duty to identified terror groups like Al -Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee. This charter enumerated many such provisions to help the victims along with proposing means of curbing terrorism. It provided for provisions which the countries should follow to prevent and punish "criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act9. Such acts were "under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature," according to the Council. The resolution also invited the working group to consider the possibility of establishing an international compensation fund for victims of terrorist acts and their families, which might be financed through voluntary contributions generated in part from assets seized from terrorist organizations, their members and sponsors10. Resolution 1566 of 2004 also established the 1566 Working Group which recommended practical measures against such individuals and groups, as well as to explore the possibility of setting up a compensation fund for victims of terrorism. The Security Council also requested the Secretary-General of UN to appoint an Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to assist the Committee. The Team comprises experts in counter-terrorism and related legal issues, arms embargoes, travel bans and terrorist financing11. The Security Council held a high level meeting and adopted Resolution 1624 in the year 2005. By this resolution, the council has condemned all the acts of terrorism and urged the Member States to enact very strict laws to prohibit all such terrorist acts and incitement to commit them. The states were requested to extradite any such terrorist, cooperate in investigation of terrorist activities and to deny safe haven to anyone guilty of such conduct. In the year 2010, 27 September, the Security Council summoned an open debate on the terrorist acts and the imminent threats posed to international peace and security by it. During the meeting, Council members highlighted the need for a comprehensive, multifaceted approach and for enhanced cooperation within the international community to effectively fight terrorism. The Security Council recognized this critical development and other accomplishments made in the fight against terrorism and urged all States to remain vigilant and intensify their efforts in the fight against terrorism. The SC applied sanctions against terrorists and committed every state to instituting far-reaching generic counter-terrorism measures. Moreover, in an unprecedented way, it made use of managerial compliance strategies to foster implementation. In this way, the SC adapted to transnational terrorism by demanding more from states and intervening deeper into their domestic realm, while at the same time offering more support with respect to implementation12. CONCLUSION Through a number of additional resolutions, the Council has in the past years strengthened the work of its counter-terrorism bodies yet a lot still remains to be done. The concerns that the council expressed are indeed alarming. The threat posed by terrorism has indeed become more diffuse, with an increase, in various regions of the world, of terrorist acts, including those motivated by intolerance or extremism, and reaffirmed its determination to combat this threat13. Terrorism cannot be defeated alone by law and military force. This has to be ripped off the bud and for doing that we need mutual cooperation and addressing of the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism with the message of love, kindness, secularism and non violence. The council advocated for sustained international efforts and solving mutual disputes by adhering to peaceful means. It attempted to broaden understanding among the nations, lessened down their political rivalry and made efforts to prevent the indiscriminate targeting of different religions and cultures. The acts of terrorism could not and should not be associated with any religion, nationality or ethnic group. All the nations should fight it together.           SOURCES 1) http://www.un.org/terrorism/securitycouncil.shtml 2) http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:p_n3eKVO734J:www.ilsa.org/jessup/jessup08/basicmats/rsc1368.pdf+security+councils+stand+on+terrorism&hl=en&gl=in&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg6bhDM67KXbv_bwfngWMUbPV90xX9__ewUZAtq81J0qPRY7wnVoNsB9fRiN_XgmZWS2sPaAiUdXFovv5ns31fk9yb9OFYhnyWoy_8dnIS645klar5rQ6ZFXh1nyniQWCLUpkBg&sig=AHIEtbTw2NnhHV_FP5-Unhov8MjomjTydQ 3) http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sc7158.doc.htm 4) http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/sc10038.doc.htm 5) http://www.terrorism-research.com/ 6) http://www.franceonu.org/spip.php?article5531 7) http://www.bcisbd.org/counter.html 8) http://www.mideastweb.org/1566.htm 9) http://hopefaithprayer.com/?p=6996 10) http://www.answers.com/topic/un-security-council 11) http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/ Read More