November 2012 Monthly Forecast 1 November 2012 http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2012-11/counter-terrorism.php THEMATIC ISSUES Counter-Terrorism Expected Council Action In November, the Council will hold a debate in which the chairs of the counter-terrorism-related committees—the 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Committee, the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the 1540 Committee (concerning weapons of mass destruction)—are expected to brief. No outcome is anticipated.  Key Recent Developments 1267/1989 Committee The Ombudsperson, Kimberly Prost, submitted her fourth report (http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2012_590.pdf \t _blank S/2012/590) to the Council on 30 July 2012. She noted that state cooperation was generally strong, and efforts ongoing to overcome some of the most difficult problems, including the question of access to confidential/classified information. The Ombudsperson continued to request that her mandate be expanded to cover instances of continued application of sanctions measures against individuals already delisted and to directly transmit exemption requests from individuals and entities to the Committee for its consideration. Of the 19 cases processed by the Ombudsperson, since the establishment of the position, and upon which a decision was taken by the 1267/1989 Committee, one was denied by the Council; one was amended and a name of an entity was removed as requested; and 16 were delisted. (The Al-Qaida sanctions list currently includes 236 individuals and 68 entities and other groups or undertakings associated with Al-Qaida.) The Committee has also been busy going over travel reports by the Monitoring Group that assists the Committee and periodical reviews of the sanctions list. CTC The CTC is planning a special meeting with UN member states and international, regional and subregional organisations on 20 November in New York to discuss measures required to prevent and suppress terrorist financing. The special meeting will focus on raising awareness of the terrorist financing threat and drawing attention to the related best practices of states to hinder terrorism and their relevance to the implementation of resolution 1373. The chair of the CTC, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri (India), will chair the event. The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), which assists the CTC, concluded a five-day comprehensive visit to Djibouti on 27 September. Issues raised during the visit included maritime and cargo security, law enforcement, border management and staff training. Another topic raised with senior government officials during the mission was the importance of respecting human rights while countering terrorism. CTED organised workshops and seminars in different regions on various issues: a workshop held in Rabat from 17-19 July   was devoted to developing effective and comprehensive strategies to counter incitement of terrorist acts motivated by extremism and intolerance; a seminar in Kuala Lumpur on joint investigations, held in June and co-sponsored by CTED and the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (under the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), dealt with means of bringing terrorists to justice; and the third of a series of seminars on the role of the prosecution in terrorist cases was held in Algiers from 5-7 June, during which close to 40 prosecutors and judges from different regions came together with representatives of international, regional and sub-regional organisations to examine their role in bringing terrorists to justice. 1540 Committee The main issue dealt with by the Committee in the last few months was the appointment of the Group of Experts (GoE). http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/CT%201540%20S%20RES%201977.pdf \t _blank Resolution 1977 called for the Secretary-General to establish a group of eight experts after consultation with the Committee. The resolution also asked the Committee to consider recommendations for the Committee and the GoE on expertise requirements, broad geographic representation, working methods, modalities and structure, including consideration of the feasibility of a coordination and leadership position for the GoE. The resolution called for these recommendations to be presented to the Council no later than 31 August 2011. After the recommendations were put forward, the Committee members had nine names of qualified experts before them but were unable to agree on a list of eight experts to recommend to the Secretary-General. Different countries from different regions stressed different factors in choosing experts, and a solution was not in sight. Several meetings on this issue were convened, including at deputy permanent representative level, but to no avail. To circumvent the impasse, the US suggested that the number of experts be expanded to nine, and thus, after the Committee reached a consensus on the issue, the Council adopted resolution 2055 on 29 June, expanding the number of experts to nine. After the resolution was passed and the Committee was in agreement, the nine experts were appointed, with the UK expert serving as coordinator. Several experts will begin their work in New York by the end of October, and all are expected to arrive by the beginning of 2013. The next step for the 1540 Committee is the preparation of the annual review due by the end of the year, with the assistance of the newly formed GoE. As their appointment was considerably delayed, this process may spill over into early 2013. Key Issues Improving implementation by member states of all counter-terrorism Council resolutions is a key issue. A new key issue is assessing the implications of the wider mandate of the Ombudsperson under http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Terrorism%20SRES%201989.pdf \t _blank resolution 1989 and whether the mandate should be further adjusted, in light of its upcoming renewal.   Regarding the 1540 Committee, a key issue is how the newly appointed GoE experts will interact with the Committee, via its coordinator.  Council and Wider Dynamics Concerning the 1267/1989 Committee, Council members are starting to collect their thoughts regarding the renewal of the Ombudsperson’s and the Monitoring Group’s mandates, which expire in December. At present, it seems that Council members are in agreement that both mandates should be renewed, yet there may be disagreements over the specifics of each mandate.  One issue that is likely to be negotiated are possible adjustments to the role and resources of the Office of the Ombudsperson. Points that are likely to arise in all three briefings are the issues of compliance with, and implementation of, the regimes. In the past months Council members have shown a growing interest in capacity-building and assistance to states in order to enable them to better comply with sanctions and their obligations under the regimes.