UN set to adopt resolution to disrupt ISIL funds

UNITED NATIONS - The Associated Press

Nadia Murad Basee, a 21-year-old Iraqi woman of the Yazidi faith, speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Finance ministers from the 15 nations on the U.N. Security Council will meet on Dec. 17 to adopt a resolution aimed at disrupting the outside revenue that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremist group gets from selling oil and antiquities, from ransom payments and other criminal activities.

The ISIL group is already subject to U.N. sanctions under resolutions dealing with al-Qaida. But the proposed resolution, sponsored by the United States and Russia, elevates ISIL to the same level as al-Qaida, reflecting its split from al-Qaida and the growing threat it poses especially in the Mideast and North Africa.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who will chair the meeting, said when the meeting was announced earlier this month that disrupting the ISIL’s financing and cutting it off from the international financial system “are critical to effectively combating this violent terrorist group.”

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters on Dec. 16 that the meeting is an unprecedented chance to bring together the people with the technical abilities to track and cut off funds to “starve” the ISIL of resources.

ISIL, also known Daesh, controls a large swath of Syria and Iraq, including oil and gas fields, though bombing campaigns by the U.S.-led coalition and ground forces have enabled Iraq to regain some territory.

While the resolution is aimed at cutting off some of ISIL’s outside revenue streams, a U.N. diplomat and U.S. official said the majority of funding for the extremist group comes from internal sources which are difficult to disrupt. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The U.S. official said getting at ISIL’s revenue is a serious challenge because much of it is internally generated from oil and gas sales which have the potential to generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually as well as from taxation and extortion. This is in contrast to al-Qaida, whose funding typically comes from outside donors, including charities and kidnapping for ransom.

The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, would rename the U.N. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida “the ISIL (Daesh) and al-Qaida sanctions committee.”

It calls ISIL a splinter group of al-Qaida and stresses that “any individual, group, undertaking, or entity supporting ISIL or al-Qaida” is subject to U.N. sanctions, including an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

Power, the U.S. ambassador, said the resolution will be a new piece of international law that “will require countries to do more than they have been doing.”

The fact the ISIL group is still able to traffic in oil and artifacts and extort people is “a problem we should be able to solve,” she said.

The draft encourages the 193 U.N. member states “to more actively submit” names for inclusion on the sanctions list and expresses “increasing concern” at the failure of countries to implement previous sanctions resolutions.

It calls on all countries “to move vigorously and decisively to cut the flows of funds and other financial assets and economic resources” to those on the sanctions list.

The proposed resolution urges countries to share information about extremist groups and calls for a report within 120 days on what every country is doing to tackle the financing of ISIL and al-Qaida.

It also requests Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to provide an initial “strategic-level report” in 45 days on the sources of financing of ISIL and associated groups, including through illicit trade in oil, antiquities and other natural resources, as well as their planning and facilitation of attacks, and to provide updates every four months.