UN Resolution 1267

In News: China has blocked a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to designate Abdul Rauf Azhar, brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and deputy chief of the Pakistan-based proscribed terror group, as a “global terrorist”.

• Azhar, referred to as Abdul Rauf Asghar in UN documents, was involved in the planning and execution of several terror attacks, including the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 (1999), attack on Parliament (2001), and attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot (2016).
• A proposal was moved by India, co-sponsored by the US, to list Abdul Rauf Asghar in the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee.
• China has, however, placed a technical hold on the proposal.
• All other 14 member states of the UN Security Council were supportive of the listing proposal
• Listing him as a global terrorist would subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

What is UNSC 1267 committee?

• Article 41 of the United Nations Charter gives the Security Council the authority to use a variety of measures to enforce its decisions.
• The Council regularly creates subsidiary organs to support or implement these measures.
• Among the most common are those measures that are known as “sanctions”, which are generally supported by a Committee, as well as Panels/Groups of Experts or other mechanisms to monitor implementation of the sanctions.
• By resolution 1267 (1999) of 15 October 1999, the Security Council established a Committee to oversee the implementation of targeted sanctions measures against designated individuals, entities and aircraft that were owned, controlled, leased or operated by the Taliban.
• The measures were subsequently modified, particularly by resolutions 1333 (2000) and 1390 (2002), to include an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo affecting designated individuals and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, and the Taliban wherever they are located.
• By resolution 2253 (2015) of 17 December 2015, the Security Council decided to expand the listing criteria to include individuals and entities supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
• It comprises all permanent and non-permanent members of the UNSC.
• The 1267 list of terrorists is a global list, with a UNSC stamp.

What is the process by which people are listed under UNSC 1267?

• Any member state can submit a proposal for listing an individual, group, or entity.
• The 1267 Committee meets as required with a notice of four working days.
• Decisions on listing and de-listing are adopted by consensus.
• The proposal is sent to all the members, and if no member objects within five working days, the proposal is adopted. An “objection” means curtains for the proposal.
• Any member of the Committee may also put a “technical hold” on the proposal, and ask for more information from the proposing member state. During this time, other members may also place their own holds.
• The matter remains on the “pending” list of the Committee until such time as the member state that has placed the hold decides to turn its decision into an “objection”, or until all those who have placed holds remove them within a timeframe laid down by the Committee.
• Pending issues must be resolved in six months, but the member state that has placed the hold may ask for an additional three months. At the end of this period, if an objection is not placed, the matter is considered approved.

Any proposal for listing must meet set criteria:

• The proposal must include acts or activities indicating the proposed individual/group/entity had participated “in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities” linked to “ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof”.

Concerns

• This is not the first time that China has obstructed the listing of terrorists in the 1267 Sanctions Committee.
• In June this year, China placed on hold a joint proposal by India and the US to list the deputy chief of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Abdul Rehman Makki, in the sanctions list.
• Double standards and continuing politicisation have rendered the credibility of the sanctions regime at an all-time low.

Way Forward

• An effective functioning of the Sanctions Committees need to become more transparent, accountable and objective.
• The practice of placing holds and blocks on listing requests without giving any justification must end.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Question

Q.1) With Reference to the “United Nations Credentials Committee”, consider the following statements: (2022)

1. It is a committee set up by the UN Security Council and works under its supervision.
2. It traditionally meets in March, June and September every year.
3. It assesses the credentials of all UN members before submitting a report to the General Assembly for approval.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 3 only
2. 1 and 3
3. 2 and 3
4. 1 and 2