Continued assault on individiual liberty lead by the UN Security Council under pretexts of fighting terrorism
Regional, Politics, 1/18/2003

The UN Security Council, led by the USA, continues its assault on individual liberty of citizens worldwide without creating any effective mechanisms or institutions to counteract such measures by providing recourse to individuals to challenge such measures when they are personally effected, and thus further diminish the human rights of the individual under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

The UN reported that: Stressing the obligation of all states to work together urgently to prevent and suppress terrorist acts, the United Nations Security Council moved unanimously today to improve implementation of the sanctions regime imposed on Usama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, the Taliban and their associates.

Adopting a new resolution today, the Council decided to improve the implementation of specific measures which date back to 1999. They include the freezing of funds and other financial resources of the Taliban as well as funds and other assets of Usama bin Laden and individuals and entities associated with him as designated by the sanctions committee established by resolution 1267 (1999), an arms embargo, and travel prohibitions. The Council also decided that if necessary, it would further improve these measures within the year.

The Council adopted the 1999 resolution in response to the indictment of Usama bin Laden for the 1998 terrorist bombings of United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. Resolutions 1333 (2000) and 1390 (2002) further tightened the sanctions regime.

By today's resolution, the Council stressed the need for improved coordination and increased exchange of information between the relevant sanctions Committee and the Counter-terrorism Committee (CTC) established in 2001 in the wake of the 11 September terror attacks against the United States, and called on all countries to submit an updated report to the CTC no later than 90 days from today on all steps taken to implement the improved measures and all related investigations and enforcement actions.

In addition, the Council requested Secretary-General Kofi Annan to reappoint five experts to monitor for another 12 months the implementation of the measures and to follow up on relevant leads relating to any incomplete implementation of the measures.

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