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Security Council Adopts Anti-Terror Resolution
The UN Security Council on Friday night voted 15-0 to adopt an anti-terror resolution, demanding that all nations freeze finances of suspected terrorists and crack down on groups that help them.
The measure, backed by the threat of sanctions or military force, dramatically expands the U.N. role in the global war on terrorism. It also requires countries to deny "safe haven" to anyone responsible for, or supporting a terror attack, and criminalizes the financing of such attacks.
The resolution was adopted as international law less than three weeks after terror attacks on the United States, in which more than 6,000 people are missing or killed. The resolution said that the 15-nation council slammed the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington as "a threat to international peace and security."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was present at the council chamber as the council members were convening an open meeting to vote on the draft resolution.
Many of the provisions in the resolution are contained in treaties some countries have ratified or are expected to. But the new resolution, sponsored by the United States, was adopted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which stipulates economic and diplomatic sanctions or the use of military force against countries which fail to comply with Security Council decisions.
The main thrust of the resolution is on the financing of clandestine networks. It would freeze financial assets of people who have committed, or attempted to commit, terrorist acts or participated in groups owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such people.
The resolution also set up a special Security Council committee and told all governments to report to it within 90 days on steps they had taken to carry out the resolution.
Governments must also:
-- Criminalize the wilful raising, directly or indirectly, of funds known to be used for terrorist acts;
-- Freeze without delay financial assets and economic resources of people who have committed or attempted to commit terrorist acts;
-- Prohibit their nationals or anyone on their territory from making funds or similar services available to terrorists;
-- "Refrain from providing any form of support, including political or diplomatic, active or passive" to terrorists;
-- "Deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support or commit terrorist acts" and to those who harbor them;
-- Ensure that terrorists are brought to justice and appropriately punished;
-- Give each other "the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal investigations" into acts of terrorism; and
-- Put effective controls on borders and passports and identity papers into place.
The resolution does not define a terrorist and does not identify anyone suspected of the attacks on the United States.
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