United Nations Security Council Resolution 2195 – Threats to international peace and security
Resolution 2195 (2014)
The Security Council,
Reaffirming its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,
Reaffirming that terrorism in all forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations, whenever and by whomsoever committed,
Reaffirming further that terrorism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, or civilization,
Stressing that terrorism can only be defeated by a sustained and comprehensive approach involving the active participation and collaboration of all States and international and regional organizations to impede, impair, isolate and incapacitate the terrorist threat,
Gravely concerned by the financing of, and financial and other resources obtained by terrorists, and underscoring that these resources will support their future terrorist activities,
Reaffirming the need to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts,
Expressing concern that terrorists benefit from transnational organized crime in some regions, including from the trafficking of arms, persons, drugs, and artefacts and from the illicit trade in natural resources including gold and other precious metals and stones, minerals, wildlife, charcoal and oil, as well as fr om kidnapping for ransom and other crimes including extortion and bank robbery,
Stressing that the development and maintenance of fair and effective criminal justice systems should be a fundamental basis of any strategy to counter terrorism and transnational organized crime,
Noting the Communiqué of the African Union Peace and Security Council Summit on countering violent extremism and terrorism held in Nairobi on 2 September 2014, and calling on UN counter-terrorism entities, within existing mandates, and Member States to provide assistance and capacity-building towards Africa’s efforts to counter violent extremism and terrorism,
Gravely concerned that in some cases individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaida continue to profit from involvement in transnational organized crime, and stressing in this regard the need for robust implementation of the measures in paragraph 1 of resolution 2161 (2014) as a significant tool in combating terrorist activity,
Urging in this respect, all Member States to participate actively in maintaining and updating the list created pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1333 (2000) and 1989 (2011) (“the Al-Qaida Sanctions List”) by contributing additional information pertinent to current listings, submitting delisting requests when appropriate, and by identifying and nominating for listing additional individuals, groups, undertakings and entities which should be subject to the measures referred to in paragraph 1 of resolution 2161 (2014),
Recalling its recent condemnation in resolution 2170 (2014) of any engagement in direct or indirect trade involving ISIL, ANF and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaida, and its reiteration that such engagement could constitute financial support for entities designated by the Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) (“the Committee”) and may lead to further listings by the Committee,
Deeply concerned that terrorist groups benefiting from transnational organized crime may contribute to undermining affected States, specifically their security, stability, governance, social and economic development,
Reaffirming the need to increase attention to women, peace and security issues in all relevant thematic areas of work on its agenda, including in threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, and noting the importance of incorporating the participation of women and youth in developing strategies to counter terrorism and violent extremism,
Emphasizing the need to address conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism,
Emphasizing that the combined presence of terrorism, violent extremism, and transnational organized crime may exacerbate conflicts in affected regions, including in Africa, and noting that terrorist groups benefiting from transnational organized crime can, in some cases and in some regions, complicate conflict prevention and resolution efforts,
Seriously concerned, in this regard, by recent examples of terrorist groups, including those benefiting from transnational organized crime, attacking United Nations personnel,
Recalling its resolution 2133 (2014) and strongly condemning incidents of kidnapping and hostage-taking committed by terrorist groups for any purpose, including raising funds or gaining political concessions, and expressing its determination to prevent kidnapping and hostage-taking committed by terrorist groups and to secure the safe release of hostages without ransom payments or political concessions, in accordance with applicable international law,
Noting recent developments and initiatives at the international, regional and subregional levels to prevent and suppress international terrorism, noting the work of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), in particular its recent adoption of a comprehensive set of good practices to address the foreign terrorist fighter phenomenon, and its publication of several other framework documents and good practices, including in the areas of countering violent extremism, criminal justice, prisons, kidnapping for ransom, providing support to victims of terrorism, and community-oriented policing, to assist interested States with the practical implementation of the United Nations counter-terrorism legal and policy framework and to complement the work of the relevant United Nations counter-terrorism entities in these areas,
Reaffirming the need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law, including applicable international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, stressing in this regard the important role the United Nations plays in leading and coordinating this effort,
Recognizing that a comprehensive approach to defeat terrorism is required involving national, regional, subregional and multilateral action,
Noting the important contribution that public-private partnerships can make in efforts to prevent and combat criminal activities, such as transnational organized crime, corruption and terrorism,
Reaffirming its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all States in accordance with the Charter,
Reiterating the obligation of Member States to prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups, in accordance with applicable international law, by, inter alia, effective border controls,
- Stresses the need to work collectively to prevent and combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including terrorism benefitting from transnational organized crime;
2. Calls upon Member States to strengthen border management to effectively prevent the movement of terrorists and terrorist groups, including those benefiting from transnational organized crime;
3. Urges as a matter of priority that Member States ratify, accede to, and implement the relevant international conventions, such as the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime of 2000, the Protocols thereto and the United Nations Convention against Corruption of 2003, and the international counter-terrorism conventions and protocols;
4. Requests the relevant United Nations entities to assist Member States, upon their request, and within existing mandates and resources, to implement therelevant international legal instruments relating to terrorism, and to develop their capacity to effectively respond to, prevent, investigate, and prosecute terrorist acts;
5. Stresses the importance of good governance and the need to fight against corruption, money-laundering and illicit financial flows, in particular through the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the comprehensive international standards set forth in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) revised Forty Recommendations on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation, including by adopting and effectively implementing legislative and regulatory measures, to enable the competent domestic authorities to freeze or seize, confiscate and manage criminal assets, in order to combat illicit financial activity including terrorist financing and money-laundering, and encourages the States of the African region to further their engagement within the FATF-style regional bodies (FSRBs), such as the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force in promoting capacity andcooperation (MENAFATF);
6. Recalls the obligations referred to in operative paragraph 2 (e) of resolution 1373 (2001) and recalls them in particular with regard to terrorist attacks against UN staff, peacekeepers and installations;
International and regional cooperation
7. Further stresses the importance of strengthening transregional and international cooperation on a basis of a common and shared responsibility to counter the world drug problem and related criminal activities, and underlines that it must be addressed in a comprehensive, balanced and multidisciplinary manner;
8. Encourages Member States and relevant organizations, as appropriate, to enhance cooperation and strategies to prevent terrorists from benefiting from transnational organized crime, and to build the capacity to secure their borders against and investigate and prosecute such terrorists and transnational organized criminals working with them, including through the strengthening of national, regional, and global systems to collect, analyse and exchange information, including law enforcement and intelligence information;
9. Commends in this regard, the regional cooperative mechanisms in Africa, notably, the Sahel Fusion and Liaison Unit, the Nouakchott Process on the Enhancement of Security Cooperation and the Operationalization of the African Peace and Security Architecture in the Sahel-Saharan Region, the AU-led Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Lake Chad Basin Commission Multinational Joint Task Force and its Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit as well as the Economic Community of West African States;
10. Commends further the initiatives to strengthen security and border control in the region of North Africa and the Sahel-Saharan region, with the adoption of the Action Plan on border security, during the first Regional Ministerial conference, held in Tripoli, in March 2012, and the creation of a regional training centre to enhance border security, during the second Regional Ministerial conference, held in Rabat, in November 2013, as well as other subregional initiatives supported by the United Nations;
11. Urges all Member States, notably Sahel and Maghreb States, to coordinate their efforts to prevent the serious threat posed to international and regional security by terrorist groups crossing borders and seeking safe havens in the Sahel region, to enhance cooperation and coordination in order to develop inclusive and effective strategies to combat in a comprehensive and integrated manner the activities of terrorist groups, and to prevent the expansion of those groups as well as to limit the proliferation of all arms and transnational organized crime;
12. Welcomes and supports the establishment of AFRIPOL and takes note of the elaboration of an African arrest warrant for persons charged with or convicted of terrorist acts;
13. Calls on Member States in Africa to support the implementation of the African Union Plan of Action on Drug Control 2013-2018;
Capacity-building and the UN coordination
14. Calls upon Member States to help build the capacity of other Member States where necessary and appropriate and upon request, to address the threat posed by terrorism benefiting from transnational organized crime, and welcomes and encourages bilateral assistance by Member States to help build such national, subregional or regional capacity;
15. Recognizes the significant capacity and coordination challenges many Member States face in countering terrorism and violent extremism, and preventing terrorist financing, recruitment and all other forms of support to terrorist organizations, including terrorists benefitting from transnational organized crime, commends work under way by the Counter-Terrorism Committee and its Executive Directorate (CTED) to identify capacity gaps and to facilitate technical assistance to strengthen the implementation of resolutions 1373 (2001) and 1624 (2005), encourages Member States to continue cooperating with the Counter-Terrorism Committee and CTED on the development of comprehensive and integrated national, subregional and regional counter-terrorism strategies, highlights the important role that Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) entities, in particular the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, as well as the United Nations Centre for Counter-Terrorism, and other providers of capacity-building assistance should play in technical assistance delivery, and requests the relevant entities of the United Nations, whenever appropriate and within existing resources, to take into account in their technical assistance to counter terrorism the elements necessary for addressing terrorism benefitting from transnational organized crime;
16. Calls on relevant entities of the United Nations and other relevant international and regional organizations to support the development and strengthening of the capacities of national and regional institutions to address terrorism benefitting from transnational organized crime, in particular law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies, and in this regard notes the advisory role of the Peacebuilding Commission, in accordance with its mandate;
17. Encourages the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force to consider expanding its I-ACT Initiative to the countries of the G5-Sahel and Central Africa, upon their request;
18. Reiterates that United Nations peacekeeping and special political missions, may, if mandated by the Council, assist in capacity-building for host governments, as requested, to implement commitments under existing global and regional instruments and to address the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, including inter alia through weapons collection, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, enhancing physical security and stockpile management practices, record keeping and tracing capacities, development of national export and import control systems, enhancement of border security, and strengthening judicial institutions, policing and other law enforcement capacities;
19. Encourages information sharing, where relevant and appropriate, between Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Department of Political Affairs, the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force and the United Nations Development Programme, within existing mandates and resources, when considering means to address, in a comprehensive and integrated manner, transnational organized crime, terrorism and violent extremism which can be conducive to terrorism;
Reporting
20. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council a report on the efforts of the United Nations entities to address the threat of terrorists benefiting from transnational organized crime in affected regions, including Africa, with respect to matters with which the Council is seized, with input from the relevant entities of the United Nations system including the UNODC, CTED, the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, and other relevant CTITF entities;
21. Further requests that the report include recommendations of concrete options for strengthening Member States’ capabilities, including financing such proposed UN projects and activities to build capacity with existing resources and contributions in the UN system, as well as UN activities to reduce the negative impacts of terrorists benefiting from transnational organized crime including those relevant to its conflict resolution efforts with a focus on border security, counter-terrorist financing, and anti-money-laundering, and that the report be submitted to the Council no later than six months from the adoption of this resolution;
22. Recalls the request, in resolution 2178 (2014), to the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, in close cooperation with all relevant United Nations counter-terrorism bodies, to report to the Committee pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) within 180 days, on the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters recruited by or joining ISIL, ANF, and all groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al-Qaida, and reiterates that this report should also focus on trends related to foreign terrorist fighters joining and working with all terrorist groups listed on the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions List, and should include an oral briefing to the Committee and a Committee brief to the Security Council at the next regular briefing on counter-terrorism on those operating in Africa.
Adopted by the Security Council at its 7351st meeting, on 19 December 2014.
