RIYADH, 7 February 2005 — While endorsing the anti-terror center proposed by Crown Prince Abdullah, Sri Lanka proposed that the international coalition to defeat terrorism must firmly be committed to United Nations standards.
In a 15-minute speech, Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, head of Sri Lanka’s delegation, said the UN plays a valuable role through international conventions, counterterrorism assistance and choking terrorist funding.
“If one looks at the problem in realistic terms, there can never be absolute protection from terrorism; all we can do is cooperate as closely as possible and show that we are determined to rid the world of this scourge,” Ansar said.
“Terrorism affects us all, and our campaign against terrorism requires a sustained effort by all sections of society to delegitimize terrorism and to promote the success of those forces that are working to build an effective response to terrorism within the framework of the rule of law,” he said.
As a country long confronted by the serious challenges posed by terrorism, Ansar said Sri Lanka has been at the forefront of international and regional initiatives to form a comprehensive strategy. The country has lost more than 60,000 people in the fight against the Tamil rebels during the past two decades. Sri Lanka chairs the UN Adhoc Committee on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism.
Ansar said Sri Lanka’s focus today is creating effective measures to combat the financing of terrorism, particularly through front organizations, noting terrorist groups cannot function without money.
“That is why it is necessary that front organizations that raise funds, ostensibly for charitable purposes and subsequently divert it to terrorist purposes, as well as the financial institutions that convey funds and the entities that hide funds have to be closed down without any conditions attached,” he said, focusing on the international ramifications of money laundering and Sri Lanka’s counterterrorism strategies.
States that have not become parties to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism should be urged to adopt it along with effective domestic anti-money laundering legislation to give effect to its provisions, he said.
Ansar said it has become increasingly evident that the activities of armed groups in Sri Lanka could not have assumed their present dimension were it not for the existence of a comprehensive, international fund-raising network.
From small-scale operations in the early stages, he said these organizations and groups expanded and regularized their activities to ensure the continuous inflow of funds in a global network of operations. The front organizations often are registered as charities, ostensibly doing rehabilitation projects.
Human smuggling operations as well as the drug trade also are key revenue sources. Cutting off the money supply makes good sense, he said. “At the same time it also has to be understood that terrorism exploits vulnerabilities,” he said.
Sri Lanka has moved to create a range of anti-terrorism laws as set out in UN Resolution 1373 to curb terrorist financing. The country is in the process of finalizing domestic anti-money laundering legislation together with a Financial Transaction Reporting Act consistent with recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force.
