For the first time this week, finance ministers from UN Security Council member countries gathered at New York to come up with a set of proposals that may cut off sources of funding for the ISIS terrorist organization and other militant groups, including illicit oil revenues and ransom payments.
The development represents the most serious effort in years at strangulating financial lifelines of the lethal militant organization – an offshoot of Iraq war and Syrian conflict – using oil money and extortions to perpetuate its terror over swathes of Iraq and Syria. President Barack Obama, faced with Republican criticism over combating the ISIS threat in the politically charged 2016 election season, has said the U.S. is hitting the militant organization harder both through military actions and disruption of its funding means. Nevertheless, a UN-led diplomatic drive toward finding a political solution to the Syrian civil war faces several obstacles.
After five years of mayhem in Syria and Iraq, U.S. and Russia, the main drafters of a unanimously adopted resolution this week, have stepped up their military operations to contain ISIS, also known as ISIL or Da`esh. The festering conflict that began with protest demonstrations against Barhar al Assad’s regime has had devastating ramifications for the world. Since the uprising began in 2011 spring, Assad has used all state terror to crush his opponents including moderate Syrians, while the ISIS or Da`esh has emerged as a terror outfit with international appeal, drawing thousands of fighters from Muslim and Western countries. Recent Paris attacks and killings in San Bernardino, California, have their roots in ISIS propagation of militant narrative. A Reuters report cites UN experts saying around 22,000 foreign fighters from some 100 countries are linked to al Qaeda and ISIS.
At the New York meeting on December 17 , the 15-member UNSC adopted a resolution at a session presided over by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew of the United States – which holds its monthly presidency – urging enhanced actions, from closing financial system loopholes to stopping the abuse of charitable causes, as well as updating the existing ISIS and al-Qaida Sanctions List.
The way ISIS funds its operations can be explained with a series of startling figures. Jack Lew has revealed that the ISIS has collected around $500 million from black market oil sales in addition to millions more from the people it brutalizes and extorts. According to Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, the ISIS made $250 million a year from the sale of phosphates, $200 million from barley and rye and another $100 million from cement. Moscow believes that ISIS spends $30 million a month to buy weapons. Britain’ chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne says illegal oil trade accounts for 45 per cent of the ISIS income.
According to the world body, the adoption of the U.N. resolution was the result of a planned 18-month review of the al Qaeda sanctions regime.
The Council emphasizes that already existing resolutions mandating States to ensure that financial assets are not transferred to terrorists by persons within their territory “shall also apply to the payment of ransoms to individuals, groups, undertakings or entities on the ISIS [Da’esh] and Al-Qaida Sanctions List regardless of how or by whom the ransom is paid.”
Significantly, the resolution calls for increased international cooperation in sharing information and closer collaboration with the private sector to identify suspect transactions.
The Council also asks all Member States to promote enhanced vigilance by persons within their jurisdiction to detect any diversion of explosives and raw materials and components that can be used to manufacture improvised explosive devices or unconventional weapons, including chemical components, detonators, detonating cord, or poisons.
“They (the terrorists) are agile and have been far too successful in attaining resources for their heinous acts,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Council at the start of the debate.
“As Da’esh and other terrorist groups disseminate their hateful propaganda and ratchet up murderous attacks, we must join forces to prevent them from acquiring and deploying resources to do further harm,” he stressed.
“We know the challenge before us. Terrorists take advantage of weaknesses in financial and regulatory regimes to raise funds. They circumvent formal channels to avoid detection, and exploit new technologies and tools to transfer resources. They have forged destructive and very profitable links with drug and criminal syndicates – among others. And they abuse charitable causes to trick individuals to contribute,” said the UN chief.
“Still, more needs to be done,” Mr. Ban stated. “Terrorists continue to adapt their tactics and diversify their funding sources. Today, Da’esh runs a multi-million dollar economy in territories under its control. Da’esh terrorists raise money through the oil trade, extortion, undetected cash couriers, kidnapping for ransom, trafficking of humans and arms and racketeering,” he said, according to a UN report.
“They loot and sell precious cultural property, shamelessly profiting from the destruction of humanity’s common heritage. Social media outreach is exploited by Da’esh, not just for radicalization and recruiting, but also for fundraising. Other terrorist organizations around the world – from Boko Haram to Al-Shabaab to the Taliban – are following suit.”
