Terrorism Financing in International Law - Research Proposal Example

Book Proposal Law Governing Disasters Introduction Terrorism financing has emerged as one of the major boosts to terrorism in the 21st century. This being an issue of international importance it’s important to look at the legislations and laws that have been put in place to address the disaster. This involves the new field in law i.e. law governing disasters. This proposed handbook will therefore address all aspects of law governing disasters which are prevention, response, recovery and reconstruction. Terrorism being one of the major challenges hindering development in the current world, this handbook will revolve around the international laws made and national legislations to address it. Though various authors have made significant steps to explore laws governing disasters, their approach is deficient as the field is considerably broadening. The center of interest in this work is on bodies of law governing disasters. To that effect, the book will establish whether such a body exists, or the laws that are used are a hybrid drawn on principles from different national, regional, and international sources. Therefore, by the handbook addressing various aspects on laws governing disasters, it will aide in the making a positive contribution to the development of key norms as well as better informing practice and policy oriented debates. The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional union consisting the Arab countries found in the Persian Gulf which include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Iraq is the only non-member from the region. It was formed in 1981 in a meeting in Riyadh Saudi Arabia1. Terrorism financing is the financing of terror activities therefore promoting such activities. Money laundering is for the same motive is part of the problems addressed in terrorism financing. The Financial Action Task Force and the GCC visits various GCC countries to examine the financial practices that could promote terrorism financing. In such an assessment in 2003, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, they established that Saudi Arabia’s legal and regulatory system was compliant with most of the Financial Action Task Force 40+80 Recommendations on terrorism financing2. At the time, Saudi Arabia had put in place a Permanent Committee on combating terrorism financing so as to coordinate its policy response and the Saudi-Financial Crime Unit (SAFCU)3. However, in an FATF report that was produced later, it was concluded that the KAS definition of the terms terrorist financing did not conform to the international standards as expressed in the United Nations Convention on terrorism suppression4. This was seen as a major drawback in combating terrorism financing. In line with the main issue here i.e. terrorism financing, it is true then to say that the difference in the measures put in place and the definition of terrorism financing is a major blow to reaching a long lasting solution. Having uniform international laws to regulate the same is therefore important. Aim and Objective of the Research As highlighted in the introduction, there is a significant vacuum in terms of literature on law governing disasters. While exploring the existing literature in detail, one is quick to note that most existing books on disaster themes are non-law related. They cover issues such as resilience/prediction, disaster risk management, post-disaster reconstruction, and medical responses which adopt scientific, social, or economic approaches. This study was therefore important to provide an approach to disaster management from a law point of view. The existing literature in the field showed significant drawbacks which will be addressed by this book. Caron, Kelly & Telesetsky (2014), address a slim section of the topic namely disaster relief/response law. Though this will be shallowly addressed in the book, a broader approach will be employed5. Guttry, Gestri and Venturini (2012) also explore the topic on a much narrower lens of international disaster response law6. Lauta’s Disaster Law, considers the role of law in disasters and in particular the regulation of disaster response and the allocation of responsibility in the aftermath of disasters primarily through the notions of duty, responsibility and justice7. The questions that will be addressed by the handbook are broader than what this approach does. It is important to note that the author’s approach in the above book of the existence of disaster law is different from the approach of the handbook which tries to establish whether such laws exist in the first place or it is developing. Farber and Faure’s Disaster Law which comprises a collection of 27 articles has various drawbacks considering that it does not cover the developments from 20078. This book covers a wide spectrum of issues which will be addressed in the proposed handbook but one will note that the individual articles make a different approach of the presence of disaster laws which is different from the handbooks approach. Deflem (2012) employs a socio-legal approach examining aspects such as policing, evacuation, and crime which is different from the handbook’s approach9. Faure and Wibisana’s, Regulating Disasters, Climate Change and Environmental Harm: Lessons from the Indonesian Experience explores some of the legal principles but in a more confined approach10. This is different compared to the proposed book’s approach which will not be confined to a single event. Zwitter et al, in Humanitarian Action: Global, Regional and Domestic Legal Responses adopt a different approach from the handbook in an interdisciplinary approach while the handbook adopts an intra-disciplinary approach between different fields of law11. Footer, Schmidt, and White’s, Security and International Law, adopts a close approach to the handbook by examining to what extent international law addresses current security risks and the existence of gaps12. However, this is done in a narrow approach compared to the handbook. This handbook will therefore draw upon the limitations in the current literature discussed to make a broader approach to the subject. The GCC has been instrumental in countering terrorism. Among the measures taken include reforming the education system to ensure that children are informed and do not become vulnerable to join the radical groups. This study will therefore analyse how effective the GCC has been in addressing terrorism financing. This will be done by reflecting on the problem, and the legal framework that has been put in place to address that. Through the various conventions, the GCC countries proposed a number of strategies to counter terrorism13. This study will establish whether they have been adopted and the results obtained. Therefore, this study will analyse the drawbacks in the legal approach of the problem and draft recommendations to solve them. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (IOC) was founded in 1969. It is made up of 57 countries and is considered the voice of the Muslim world14. It was established with the major objective of safeguarding the interests of the Muslim member states. Since the GCC is also made up of Muslim states, the two organizations have been criss-crossing on various issues as far as the Muslim world is concerned. With major terror groups being harboured in the region, the cooperation between the two is important to address the problem. The IOC has been instrumental in combating terrorism. In 1999, it adopted the IOC Convention aimed at addressing the challenge of International Terrorism. However, some decisions made by the IOC have been controversial especially on the Palestinian war with Israel where terror gangs have been employed to cause tension. Internal conflicts within the GCC has limited much progress and attaining of its objectives. This has also limited its cooperation with the IOC to combat terrorism as a single unit. Lack of proper mechanisms despite the will to combat terrorism has been a major challenge in this quest. Therefore, through this book’s approach, it will be possible to look at the legislations in the GCC countries and the regulations they have put in place to combat terrorism financing. The 1999 terrorism convention of the United Nations puts down in its articles the regulations in addressing terrorism financing. In Article 2, it is noted that any person commits an offence within the meaning of the Convention if by any means provides, or collects funds with the intention of having them used in terror activities15. Though this is not put directly, the regulations put down discourage any act of financing terrorism among the party states. In Article 18 of the same, party states are required to put in place measures to prohibit illegal activities of persons in their territories that would be termed as terrorism or as stipulated in Article 2. The member states are also supposed to put in place measures that require financial institutions and any other bodies in the financial sector to identify their customers, whose names and authenticity are accounts opened, and above all to be careful in case there are unusual or suspicious transactions maybe involving large amounts of money. These should be reported to the criminal departments for investigation16. On top of that the financial institutions from the member states were to be included in a system where they should not allow anyone who is unidentifiable to open an account with them. Unusual patterns of transactions and most importantly dealing with large amounts of money should also be investigated. The GCC has adopted some of the strategies in its meetings as a way of countering terrorism. However, the efforts it has taken in combating terrorism still remains below par. The role of Zakat and Hawala has been considered in terrorism financing. It is known that Muslims easily make contributions to charitable practices on top of the compulsory Zakat17. Since this is a cultural norm in the Muslim World, most charitable organisations have not been registered in the past. However, after the 9/11 attacks, some of those organizations came under scrutiny and the result was the freezing of some of their accounts18. In freezing the accounts, they looked at any suspicious transactions especially presence of middlemen. The Hawala system which is used extensively in the Islamic States involves the transfer of assets such as in trusts. This can also be a source of terrorism financing and so the GCC states have laid down strategies to ensure that such transactions are not used to finance terrorism19. In the United States, a similar campaign was launched in 2002 and reinforced in 2005 by former president George W. Bush to prevent terror groups from taking advantage of charity groups to raise their funding20. Methodology This study will use a qualitative approach to solicit for the required information and data that can be used to support or expound on the subject. Through the study the aspect of international law shall be used to address the paradigms of positivism and social constructionism. Most of the legislations used will come from the United Nations Conventions and the GCC strategies in combating terrorism financing. Since disrupting funding flows and stopping money laundering21 creates a hostile environment among the terror groups limiting their activities22, this study is timely and useful in the war against terrorism. References Alizera, A., Is the GCC a Toothless Organization? Foreign Policy Blogs, 12 May 2014, http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2014/05/12/the-gcc-is-gcc-a-toothless-organization/ (accessed 7 March 2015) BBC News, Profile: Gulf Co-operation Council, 15 February 2012, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/4155001.stm (Accessed, 7 March 2015) Caron, D., Kelly, M. & Telesetsky, A. The International Law of Disaster Relief (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Deflem, M. Disasters, Hazards, and Law, Bingley: Emerald Publications, 2012. Farber, D. A. & Faure, M. G. Disaster Law, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publications, 2010. Faure M. & Wibisana, A. Regulating Disasters, Climate Change and Environmental Harm: Lessons from the Indonesian Experience, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publications, 2013. Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Terrorist Financing, 29 February 2008 (Accessed 8 March 2015) Guttry, A. D., Gestri, M. & Venturini, G. International Disaster Response Law, New York: Springer, 2012. International Monetary Fund, Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) https://www.imf.org/external/np/leg/amlcft/eng/ (Accessed March 9 2015) Javaid, R., Islamic State Practices, International Law and the Threat from terrorism: A Critique of the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ in the New World Order, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2005. Joseph, A. K., ‘Terrorism Tops Key Challenges for the GCC’, Gulf News, 7 December 2014, http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/qatar/terrorism-tops-key-challenges-for-the-gcc- 1.1423286 (Accessed 8 March 2015) Kristen, E. B. Terrorism: Documents of International and Local Control, Volume 106, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Lauta, K. C. Disaster Law, London: Routledge Publications, 2015. United Nations, International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, 1999, (Accessed 8 March 2015). U.S. Department of the Treasury, Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary best Practices for U.S. Based Charities, December 2005, (accessed 8 March 2015). WAM News, Seminar on Terror Finance Ends, 7 march 2005, http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395227383623.html (Accessed March 8 2015) www.oic-oci.org (accessed 8 March 2015) Zwitter, A. et al, Humanitarian Action: Global, Regional and Domestic Legal Responses, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Read More