PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN OF GROUP ON SECURITY COUNCIL SANCTIONS

AGAINST AL QAEDA

Michael Chandler, Chairman of the Monitoring Group on sanctions against

Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associates, briefed correspondents this afternoon on the Group's recent report to the Security Council.

The briefing was also attended by the Group's other Experts:  Victor Comras, Hasan Abaza, Surendra Shah and Philippe Graver.

The report covered the Group's work over the last four months which had primarily focused on Europe.  The Group's three tasks, he said, were monitoring the implementation of the three measures taken by the Council against Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and their associates:  the freezing of their financial and economic assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo.  Europe had clearly been a key area which Al Qaeda had used for preparation. 

Working together, the international community had made great strides in dealing with Al Qaeda -- cutting off their economic sources, freezing assets and rounding up their operatives and preventing terrorist attacks.  There had indeed been victories in this war, he said, but there was much that still needed to be done and some things that could and should be done better.

Mr. Chandler said it was crucial that the United Nations watch list be maintained as a key and authoritative document.  The report recommended several measures to improve the usefulness of the United Nations list, the most important of which was rapid updating of the list so that it contained as many of the names and operatives of Al Qaeda and their supporters as possible . At the moment, there were about 222 individuals named.  [He did not immediately have the figures on entities available.]

There should also be wider dissemination of the list, including at the different levels and locations of law enforcement.  Countries should provide to the Committee that makes up the list, greater identifying details about the individuals and entities on it. 

In response to several questions about how strong the evidence needed to be for a name or an entity to be placed on the list and how difficult would it be to remove a listing, Mr. Chandler said that a process had been set up where individuals could petition their governments to be removed from the list.  Stating that the specific management of the list was outside the scope of the Group's mandate, he noted that the report called for attention to guidelines for

de-listing.

Concerning other recommendations, Mr. Chandler said the report cited a need for countries to have a sufficient legal basis for fulfilling their obligations under the mandate.  Governments should be prepared to talk with the Group when requested.  Also, there should be a financial investment in a unit which would have the task of tracking suspicious activities as well as a means of exchanging

that information.  The report recommended establishing a "point of contact" at the United Nations that could help receive information connected to the Group's mandate and direct queries. 

On other aspects of the Group's mandate, Mr. Chandler described the arms embargo as one of the most difficult to follow up on.  The report recommended registering arms dealers and brokers and establishing a method by which a deal could be monitored from start to finish to minimize the chances for the arms to be diverted.

A correspondent who expressed frustration with the media's lack of access to the report itself, asked for examples of specific incidents in which safeguards had failed.  Mr. Comras explained that the Group was looking at the larger picture, examining patterns in the aggregate and drawing their conclusions accordingly.  "We know that significant numbers of persons have moved from the original theatre of operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region back to their countries of origin and in many cases are repositioning themselves in other countries.  This is what we seek to make understood, that in the aggregate there are problems that need to be dealt with", he said.

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