UN council allows more details in sanctions cases

The UN Security Council revised its rules on sanctions against al Qaeda and the Taliban to ensure more information was made public on why individuals and companies were being targeted.

The move, in a resolution passed by the 15-nation council, responds to criticism from some European and other countries that those hit by the sanctions are prevented from defending themselves. Legal challenges are pending in several countries.

UN sanctions against suspected backers of al Qaeda, its leader, Osama bin Laden, and the Afghan Taliban movement stem from six anti-terrorism resolutions since 1999 and include an asset freeze, arms embargo and travel ban.

The current list has 493 entries, of which 113 are groups, charities or businesses and the rest individuals.

Critics have long challenged the fairness of the system, saying it subjects people to harsh penalties without giving them a court hearing or disclosing the evidence against them. At least 16 people on the list are believed to be dead.

Monday's resolution asks states to identify information on each entry that can be disclosed publicly, and directs a committee that manages the sanctions to publish on its Web site a "narrative summary" of reasons for listing new names.

For names already on the list, the committee is asked to work with states to add information.

The committee is also instructed to make an annual review of names on the list that have not been updated or reviewed for three years, to remove dead people and consider removing those who no longer meet the criteria for inclusion.

Not included in the resolution is a proposal by six European countries - Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Liechtenstein - to set up an independent advisory panel to examine requests for delisting.

British Ambassador John Sawers said the US-drafted resolution aimed to "ensure that the procedures are fair and as open as possible."

"These new procedures, I think, go a long way to address some of the questions ... about whether these procedures are sufficiently free and fair," he told reporters.

Costa Rican Ambassador Jorge Urbina told the council, "Imposing (the sanctions) should necessarily comply with international standards of due process."

Cases involving names on the list are pending in several countries, including two before the European Court of Justice, one involving a Saudi Arabian businessman, Yassin Kadi, and the other the Swedish-based Barakaat money transfer business.

Both want the court to cancel financial sanctions against them. If it did so, the collision between its authority and that of the Security Council, whose resolutions have legal force, could jeopardise the implementation of the UN sanctions by European Union countries, experts say.

- Reuters