Can the UN battle terrorism effectively? Security council resolutions have "mobilized states for a campaign of nonmilitary cooperative law enforcement measures to combat global terrorism. "

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Jan, 2005 by David Cortright

THE CONCEPT of a "war on terror" may be useful as a political metaphor, but defeating Al Qaeda and like-minded groups primarily is a job for international law enforcement. Al Qaeda is not a government that can be subdued by war. but a diverse network of nonstate actors spread across more than 60 countries. Countering such an enemy requires cooperation among many nations. This is a task for which the United Nations is well suited.

Immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1373, which imposed sweeping legal obligations on all 191 UN members. It required every country to freeze the financial assets of terrorists and their supporters, deny them travel or safe haven, prevent terrorist recruitment and weapons supply, and cooperate with other nations in information sharing and criminal prosecution. The resolution mobilized states for a campaign of nonmilitary cooperative law enforcement measures to combat global terrorism.

To monitor compliance with these new counterterrorism mandates, Resolution 1373 created the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), which has been described by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the "center of global efforts to fight terrorism." The primary function of the CTC is to strengthen the counterterrorism capacity of UN member states. Its mission, wrote one observer, is to "raise the average level of government performance against terrorism across the globe." The committee serves as a "switchboard," helping to facilitate the provision of technical assistance to those needing help to implement counterterrorism mandates.

The CTC has received high levels of cooperation, but it likewise has faced significant challenges. The committee relies exclusively on reports from member states and has lacked independent means of determining whether countries actually are implementing mandates. Moreover, the committee has been handicapped in its efforts to coordinate the activities of international, regional, and subregional organizations. By early 2004, a consensus emerged in the Security Council on the need to "revitalize" the CTC through the provision of additional resources and authority. These considerations led the Security Council to adopt Resolution 1535 in March, 2004, which created a new Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), thus significantly expanding the committee's professional staffing and enhancing its capacity to support implementation.

In April, 2004, the Security Council further strengthened the UN counterterrorism program by adopting Resolution 1540, prohibiting nations from providing any form of support to nonstate actors that attempt to acquire nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. It mandated a series of enforcement measures that states must execute to prevent such proliferation and established a committee to report on implementation. In October, 2004, the Security Council approved Resolution 1566, in response to the school massacre by Chechen separatists at Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia, urging greater cooperation in the fight against terrorism and establishing a working group to consider additional measures. These resolutions demonstrated the council's resolve, but they also created potential overlap with the mission of the CTC and generated uncertainty about how the new bodies will work together.

After nearly three years of operation, the CTC has a record of considerable accomplishment. Most notably, it has promoted the creation of specialized systems for coordinating global efforts to combat terrorist threats. This cooperative approach has helped develop and strengthen international norms.

The committee's attempt to collect information from member states have been highly successful. All 191 submitted first-round reports explaining their efforts to comply with Resolution 1373. The committee's experts responded to these reports by requesting clarifications and more information, which led to additional correspondence and communication. In total, the CTC has received more than 550 reports, making it the repository of what one observer termed "probably the largest body of information about worldwide counterterrorism capacity." The high levels of response confirm the importance most nations attach to compliance. The reports indicate that a number of countries are taking concrete steps to revise their laws and enhance their enforcement capacity.

One of the most objective and reliable indicators of compliance is the increase in the number of countries joining the 12 UN counterterrorism conventions. These provide a basis for nations to cooperate in preventing terrorist financing and carrying out joint law enforcement and intelligence efforts against bombings. In addition, they establish the legal foundation for states to harmonize criminal justice standards and negotiate mutual legal assistance agreements.

The most important of these are the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Both have witnessed a sharp rise in the rate of ratification since September, 2001. The increase in support for the 10 other UN conventions has been less dramatic, in part because several of these agreements, such as the conventions on air safety, already had broad support before 9/11. Conventions that address specific areas of terrorist activity (preventing and punishing crimes against internationally protected persons, measures against taking hostages, safeguarding nuclear materials, and marking plastic explosives) have enjoyed a 20-40% increase in the rate of ratification.