US presses for UN resolution to fight Daesh financing

The United States and Russia are negotiating a new resolution at the United Nations Security Council intended to strengthen international efforts to cut off revenues that the Daesh raises to govern territory and spread its ideology, The New York Times reported.

The United States, as the rotating president of the Security Council, is pressing for the adoption of the resolution at an unusual gathering on Dec. 17, at which some of the finance ministers from the 15 members of the council are expected to attend.

The new resolution against the Daesh would be based on one first passed in 1999 to target the financing of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, its leader at the time. A similar measure was passed in February, directed at the Daesh, but Russia, which holds veto power as a permanent member of the Council, has complained that it is routinely flouted.

Russia’s ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, said that Moscow wanted the new measure to include a provision that required the secretary general’s office to report who is violating the prohibitions. He declined to elaborate.

“We decided to do a joint draft to tighten the screws on those who trade with ISIL,” Mr. Churkin said, referring to the Daesh. He added that such a measure would “toughen the stance of the international community on our fight against terrorists.”

In addition to a steady trade in oil, the group extracts even greater amounts of money from people in the territory it controls, by imposing taxes, fees and penalties on activities from business to looting antiquities. To a lesser extent it also relies on money transfers in and out of Syria and Iraq — flows of money that the new resolution would seek to halt.

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew will preside over the meeting in New York. Administration officials said it would be the first meeting of the Security Council to involve finance ministers from some of the council’s current 15 members, and they expressed hope that the resolution, still being drafted, would be adopted by then.

Cutting Daesh off from the international financial system and disrupting its financing are critical to effectively combating this violent terrorist group, Lew said in a statement.

Sources: MENA