U.N. Expands Sanctions

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday expanding sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban to their affiliates and splinter groups, and clamping down on terrorist financing.

Sanctions already required all 191 U.N. member states to impose a travel ban and arms embargo against Afghanistan’s former Taliban leaders, Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network and those associated with them, and to freeze their financial assets.

The new resolution specifies who is considered an associate. Among others, it states that people who finance or plan acts to support the outlawed groups and who recruit or provide weapons to Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, the Taliban “or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof” will face sanctions.

For the first time, nations are urged to enact recommendations set out by the Financial Action Task Force, a group of more than 50 countries seeking to tighten controls on underground money transfers.

This year, a U.N. team investigating compliance with the sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban found that the groups still had easy access to bomb-making materials and money.

It also noted that although no member state had reported a violation of the travel ban, it was “difficult to believe” that no Al Qaeda or Taliban member had crossed a national border.

It asked that the list of those under sanction be included in an Interpol database. The list includes 143 people and one entity associated with the Taliban, and 182 people and 117 entities associated with Al Qaeda.

European Union countries have been critical of the sanctions, in part because of concerns about ensuring that the right people are on the list.