UN sanctions uselessly target the dead

Slides
Photos

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-15 13:17

UNITED NATIONS: A UN sanctions list of suspected terrorists lacks complete information and, in come cases, includes the names of dead people, a UN ambassador said here on Tuesday.

The sanctions list highlights "a number of major shortcomings," said Austrian UN Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, who chairs the UN Security Council's Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee.

Of 513 entries on the list, for example, 38 people are reported or believed to be dead, Mayr-Harting noted.

"It is not the purpose of the list to contain dead people," he said. "It is only meant to be a list of living people."

A third of the entries are missing basic information like birthdays and descriptors, and 56 entries either have a first or last name, but not both.

As a result of the incomplete information, it is impossible for the Security Council to enforce the necessary asset freezes, arms embargo and travel bans, said Mayr-Harting.

The 1267 Committee was established in 1999 by all 15 members of the Security Council to impose sanctions on Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

But Mayr-Harting said that while the threat from terrorism has grown dramatically, changes to the list have been slow. He suggested that there are "only two ways" out: improve the entries or take them off the list altogether.

The Committee is currently reviewing 488 entries on the list and is expected to finish the job by June 30, 2010.

In a separate but related development, Abousfian Abdelrazik returned to his home in Canada last week after spending six years in exile in Sudan.

Abdelrazik was not allowed to fly back to Canada after visiting his ailing mother in Sudan because the 1267 Committee had placed sanctions on him after the United States alleged that he provided administrative and logistical support to Al-Qaida.

Abdelrazik has denied he is a terrorist. His assets are reportedly still frozen and anyone who assists Abdelrazik is liable to be charged.