Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva at the joint briefing of Chairs of Security Council Committees 1267/1989/2253, 1373, and 1540
Mr.President,
We note the timely manner of convening this briefing of the three critical subsidiary bodies of the Council.
At the outset, we extend our appreciation to Norway as Chair of Committee 1267/1989/2253 on sanctions against Al-Qaida and ISIL and personally to Ms. Trina Heimerbach for her able leadership of this body in the recent two years and her readiness to approach all outstanding issues in a responsible and constructive way.
We commend the work of this Sanctions Committee, and believe it to be one of the most efficient mechanisms of the Security Council at the counter-terrorist track. Relevance and importance of the work of Committee 1267 has not and does not raise any doubt, especially when we look at the nature of present-day terrorist threats coming from ISIL, Al-Qaida, and their affiliated terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central and South-East Asia, and Africa. We note the growing competition between Al-Qaida and ISIS for sources of financing and weapons, media resources and new recruits, including high tech specialists. The struggle for leadership goes along with mergers and intakes of separate groups of militants, the emergence of new groups that gravitate towards one international terrorist organization or another. Taken together, this leads to an increase in terrorist activity, a revision of its tactics, methods and modalities. We are ready to continue engaging constructively with all colleagues in the Committee on a wide range of issues on its agenda.
Effective implementation of the UNSC resolution on anti-terrorist sanctions regime against ISIL and Al-Qaida is a critical task. Taking into account the remaining active presence of ISIL in Afghanistan and the existing prospects of further expansion of jihadists to Central Asia, we believe that spreading the anti-terrorist sanctions regime of the Security Council onto organizations and individuals that are part of or affiliated with the Afghan “wing” of ISIL should be our priority. Also, we need to pay specific attention to the problem of FTFs (that are listed on anti-terrorist sanctions lists) who move rather actively among the countries of origin or to third countries from Syria and Iraq. This must be done in order to preclude their further criminal activity.
We support the effective work of the 1267 Monitoring Team. As we repeatedly pointed out, the Team’s reports provide detailed updated information on present-day global terrorist threats posed by ISIL and Al-Qaida and their affiliated groups. It is a valuable asset for the work of the Sanctions Committee. We call on member states to engage closely with the experts. At the same time, we proceed from the understanding that the reports of the Monitoring Team ought to be objective and based on truthful sources.
We underscore the importance of the Monitoring Team’s country visits – to the crisis areas in the first place. We realize that against the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic, the number of such visits has decreased in the recent two years. We expect that in 2023 the Team will be able to visit the countries that are in a state of armed confrontation with international terrorism, and states that are exposed to various terrorist manifestations.
Mr.President,
Let me also express our deep appreciation to the Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Ambassador Kamboj of India for her professional guidance of this body. This year India had to deal i.a. with issues that piled up during the pandemic. We must say that all this backlog was cleared.
We welcome that the Committee returned to its routine operation. First of all, it was able to fulfil its critical task to assess the implementation of relevant UNSC resolutions by member states.
We thank the government of India and the Executive Directorate of the CTC for successful organization and convening of a retreat session in New Delhi on 29 October on issues of countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes. This was a show-case event in terms of organization and housekeeping details. We also note high-quality expert support of the Committee by its Executive Directorate. CTED keeps playing a very important role in resolving the entirety of tasks in the area of countering terrorism that the CTC and Security Council are faced with.
We thank Acting Executive Director Weixiong Chen for his efforts in this office.
Mr.President,
We note the great bulk of tasks that UNSC Committee 1540 and its Chair, Ambassador Juan Ramón de la Fuente Ramírez, have to deal with.
UNSC resolution 1540 remains the only universal international document in the area of WMD non-proliferation, which binds all states to create effective national control systems in order to prevent WMDs, their delivery systems and related materials from falling into the hands of non-state actors. In order to reach the fundamental goal of resolution 1540 by all and to its fullest extent, we need to preserve the document’s inherent spirit of cooperation and engagement.
As co-sponsors of this resolution, we are generally satisfied with its progress. We appreciate that the global community remains aware of the importance of this document, which is confirmed by practical steps that member states undertake to implement this resolution.
As far as the efforts of Committee 1540, its priority tracks should be the monitoring of implementation of the resolution and coordination of steps to provide technical assistance to states upon request. Even though the Committee operates on the basis of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, it has no task to coerce or impose “services” on member states. Attempts to incorporate such practice in its work may only undermine the implementation of 1540.
Successful implementation of 1540 provisions depends on proper coordination of efforts of all member states. Taking into account the importance of the resolution's goal, we attach primary importance to such coordination. Let me underscore that this is a crucial moment for the Committee, the mandate of which expires on 30 November.
Russia is interested in going through this period without failures and losses. We call on the partners to focus on prompt search for solutions that would ensure effective work of the Committee after the end of November. We are open for a constructive dialogue in the interests of upholding the non-proliferation agenda.
Thank you.
