Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UN Security Council open debate "Linkage between international terrorism and organized crime"

Mr. President,

At the outset, let me thank the delegation of Kuwait for their outstanding leadership in June and congratulate you on assuming the Presidency in July. Let me also welcome the new Permanent Representative of France to the UN Mr.Nicolas de Riviere, wish to him every success in this domain and assure him of our support and cooperation.

Mr. President,

We appreciate your initiative to convene an open debate on countering terrorism and organized crime. We thank Mr.Fedotov, Ms.Coninsx and Ms.Makarenko for their meaningful contribution to the discussion. Close connection between terrorism, trans-national crime, illicit drug, arms and human trafficking, and money laundering was noted by the Security Council back in 2001 in resolution 1373. Our delegation is in full support of the aspiration to once again raise this issue with the Security Council and have it focused on at the expert level.

Terrorist and criminal groups merge their resources and knowledge; thus they sustain their capacity and make it increasingly difficult for law enforcement and intelligence bodies to counter them.

Besides, terrorism and organized crime are flexible, they adapt to emerging circumstances, change their motivation and tactics. What raises particular concern is radicalization of members of organized criminal groups who subsequently join terrorists. This is what we should pay specific attention to when working to counter terrorist ideology.

At the same time, the global community managed to come up with a number of mechanisms and tools of international cooperation in the area of criminal proceedings, e.g. mutual legal assistance, transfer of criminal proceedings, transfer of sentenced persons, freezing and confiscation of assets, cooperation in law enforcement. Anyone affiliated with terrorist activity, including its financing, must be held accountable. In this regard we call upon all States to abide by their international commitments, including on the basis of the principle “extradite or prosecute” that is embodied in the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

We are in support of strengthening of interaction and coordination between specialized mechanisms of the UN Secretariat and regional organizations when countering the phenomenon of linkage between terrorism and organized crime.

Targeted technical assistance programs of the UN Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) constitute a good example of such work.

We see the potential of relevant regional organizations in developing policies and strategies in the area of security, in building more efficient assistance and cooperation mechanisms to combat terrorism and organized crime.

Mr. President,

The cases of ISIS and Al-Qaida clearly show that intensity of terrorist activity directly depends on the level of its financing. Sufficient material resources let terrorists plot and carry out attacks, recruit new fighters, oppose law enforcement bodies.

The terrorist “international” in Syria and Iraq would have been suppressed much faster if terrorists had not enjoyed lasting large-scale deliveries of arms and ammunition. We would like to underscore that illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons is a grave crime.

Mr. President,

We believe it important to galvanize efforts to counter the drug threat. In a number of States the situation that is already very complicated gets further exacerbated by the ongoing merge of drug business and terrorist network, i.a. in order to launder proceeds derived from criminal activity.

Human trafficking remains a serious challenge for various regions of the world. Revenues from this criminal business often end up in hands of terrorists.

In our opinion, it is necessary to continue studying the problem of linkage between terrorist organizations and trans-national crime. The potential of criminal groups expands the capability of terrorists to carry out subversive activities on a global scale. In this regard, we believe Peru’s efforts to prepare a relevant draft resolution are highly demanded.

Thank you.