UNSC to decide on designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist' today: Here is the criteria and process followed

The 1267 Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council is likely to take a definitive call on listing Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar in the “ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions List” on Wednesday. The United States of America, the United Kingdom and France had moved the proposal to designate Azhar a “global terrorist” at the UNSC after the 14 February Pulwama terrorist attack, responsibility for which was claimed by the JeM. China, which has blocked such moves by India and other members of the UNSC three times is yet to announce its official stand on the matter, although in veiled statements, it seems to suggest that it is against it. [caption id=“attachment_6174921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of JeM chief Masood Azhar. AFP[/caption] The Sanctions List currently contains the names of 262 individuals and 83 entities. According to the UNSC, member states may at any time submit to the Committee listing requests for inclusion of individuals, groups, undertakings and entities on the Sanctions List. Criteria for listing in ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions List The UNSC has listed out three acts or activities which indicate that an individual, group, undertaking or entity is associated with the Islamic State (also called ISIL or Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda (also spelled as Al-Qaeda: 1. Participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of; 2. Supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to; 3. Recruiting for; or otherwise supporting acts or activities of, ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof. Masood Azhar has time and again been linked to Al-Qaeda. Guidelines to follow The listing request, however, follows a detailed process and must conform to the relevant Security Council resolutions and Committee Guidelines. The Committee Guidelines (Section 6) set out the process for the submission of listing requests. According to the guidelines, before approaching the Sanctions Committee, an applicant state is advised to “approach the state(s) of residence and/or nationality of the individual or entity concerned to seek additional information”. In Masood Azhar’s case, the resident state is Pakistan. Information to be provided According to the UNSC, listing requests must contain a detailed statement of case in support of the proposed listing and the specific criteria under which the names of individuals, groups, undertakings and/or entities are being proposed for designation, including: - specific findings and reasoning demonstrating that the listing criteria are met; - details of any connection with a currently listed individual or entity; - information about any other relevant acts or activities of the individual/entity; - the nature of the supporting evidence (for example, intelligence, law enforcement, judicial, media, admissions by subject, etc); and - supporting evidence or documents It is important to note that a listing request for groups, entities or undertaking will not consider listing the members of the said group unless it is explicitly stated in the request. Besides, a listing request should also offer specific information for positive identification of the individual, groups, undertakings or entities. The Sanctions Committee releases these details as a statement upon request, however, a member can prevent certain information from being released by marking it as “confidential” to the Committee. This information is used to develop a narrative summary, which is accessible to everyone after a listing request is approved. Submitting a listing request The submission of listing requests and other listing issues has to be made through approved standard forms for listing, available for download on the “ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions List”. There are separate forms for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, and they all have to be addressed to the Chair of the Committee with a copy to the Secretary of the Committee. Consideration of a request The Committee considers listing requests and reaches its decisions by the consensus of its 15 Members (five permanent members — China, France, Russia, UK and the US —  ten non-permanent members, which currently includes Belgium, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and South Africa), in accordance with its usual decision-making process as set out in the Committee’s guidelines.

TRIVIA: The non-permanent members are elected for a period of two years. There is a long list of countries who have never been elected as members of the Security Council since 1946. Afghanistan, Bhutan, Switzerland and Israel are in that list.

So far, China has blocked India’s three attempts to list Masood Azhar in the banned list. It remains to be seen if it will reject the current requests by the US, UK and France. Now, a listing request can be either rejected or accepted. Depending on the outcome, a specific process is followed. When a request is rejected: If a proposal for listing is not approved within the Committee’s decision-making period of 10 full working days (with exceptions, as the Chairman shall determine emergency and time-sensitive listings) as set out in Section 6 of the Guidelines, the Committee provides feedback to the submitting State on the status of the request. When a request is approved: Once a listing request has been approved, the “ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions List” is updated. Once the name is added to the list, the Committee makes the updated list available on its website, along with a narrative summary of reasons for listing that name. Next, within three working days after adding a name to the list, the Secretariat notifies the Permanent Mission of the country or countries where the individual, group, undertaking or entity is believed to be located and, in the case of individuals, the country of which the person is a national (to the extent this information is known). Also, unless the Committee decides otherwise, any new entry to the “ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions List” is transmitted to Interpol to request, where feasible, the issuance of an Interpol-United Nations Security Council Special Notice. Implementation After a name is added to the Sanctions list, the country where the listed individual, groups, entities or undertakings are based, are expected to implement the sanctions measures imposed by the Security Council. These sanctions include freezing of assets, a travel ban, and an arms embargo. The Sanctions Committee oversees the implementation of these sanctions. The Committee comprises all 15 members of the Security Council and makes its decision by consensus. The current Chair of the Committee, for the period ending 31 December 2019, is Dian Triansyah Djani (Indonesia). The two Vice-Chairs for 2019 are the Russian Federation and Peru.