Context

In a recent development, the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) blocked an attempt by Pakistan to list two Indians under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee targeting international terrorism.

About

• The 1267 Committee was first set up in 1999, and strengthened by a series of resolutions in the months and years after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• It is now known as the Da’esh and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
• The 1267 list of terrorists is a global list, with a UNSC stamp. It is full of Pakistani nationals and residents, and Pakistan would like to get a few Indians on it as well.

Background

• Pakistan has been trying for a year now to get four Indians, who had been working in Afghanistan, sanctioned under the UN’s 1267 regime.
• It moved separate proposals against them between September and November 2019.
• The latest move was the third time this year that Pakistan’s efforts have been thwarted.

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

• Proposal submission: Any member state can submit a proposal for listing an individual, group, or entity.
  • 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”.
• Committee decision: The 1267 Committee, which comprises all permanent and non-permanent members of the UNSC, meets as required with a notice of four working days. Decisions on listing and de-listing are adopted by consensus.
  • Under the Committee’s guidelines, the “detailed statement of case in support of the proposed listing” should provide “as much detail as possible on the basis(es) or justification for the listing”, including specific findings and supporting evidence.
• Adoption of proposal: 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.
  • Technical hold: 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.