Ireland has given a conditional welcome at the UN Security Council to a US draft resolution setting out a comprehensive series of measures against terrorism as well as a special committee to supervise implementation. The resolution is the subject of consultations and the final version is expected to be approved within days.
The Irish Ambassador to the UN, Mr Richard Ryan, said all 15 members were agreed on the need for effective measures to address international terrorism.
"At first glance the draft appears to address it in a considered and substantive manner," he said. Senior Irish diplomats are taking part in the consultations on the draft.
The draft resolution, which was introduced yesterday morning by the new US Ambassador to the UN, Mr John Negroponte, includes a proposal to establish a committee representing all members of the council, including Ireland, to monitor the level of implementation of anti-terrorist measures by all countries.
This would be a subsidiary organ of the Security Council and sources said it would function "like a sanctions committee". It is understood there was "absolute support" among the members of the council for the broad thrust of the draft resolution.
The council agreed in the interests of transparency to circulate the draft text among all 189 member-states of the UN. The draft proposes that the Security Council reaffirm its "unequivocal condemnation" of the terror attacks in New York and Washington on September 11th and reiterates the need "to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts".
Once adopted, the resolution will oblige member-states to carry out its provisions. Chapter VII of the UN Charter requires that all UN members must implement decisions which the council has taken for the maintenance of international peace and security.
The text lays considerable emphasis on cutting off finance for terrorist activities and criminalises the provision or collection of funds for such purposes. The assets of those engaged in terrorism would be frozen. This is in line with the 1999 UN Convention on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
The resolution also requires every country to refrain from providing any form of support to individuals or organisations involved in terrorist acts and to deny "safe havens" to terrorists. Terrorist acts must be established as "serious criminal offences in domestic laws and regulations".
The key provision in the draft, relating to the monitoring process, provides for the establishment of "a committee of the Security Council, consisting of all the members of the Council, to monitor implementation of this resolution, with the assistance of appropriate expertise, and calls upon all states to report to the Committee on the actions they have taken to implement this resolution no later than 60 days from the date of adoption". Sanctions are not specifically mentioned in the resolution, although it seems very likely they would be imposed on states which failed to meet its requirements.
In a separate development, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said that an estimated $584 million would be required to assist the civilian population of Afghanistan over the next six months.
He said the figure "reflects a potential increase of nearly 50 per cent - from over five million to 7.5 million - in the number of people relying on foreign aid for their survival".
The crisis in Afghanistan was already very serious, but the UN had to be ready to deal with "future dimensions of the crisis".