U.N. Security Council Asks Nations to Adopt Laws on Terror Financing by Farnaz Fassihi – Wall Street Journal
UNITED NATIONS—The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday naming terrorist financing a serious crime and demanding that all countries set up a domestic legal framework to counter the practice.
The U.N.’s counterterrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov said the resolution came at a critical time, as terrorist attacks around the globe have demonstrated that groups like Islamic State and al Qaeda have continuing access to vast financial revenues.
Mr. Voronkov said that the Security Council resolution demanded that every country “ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish terror financing as serious criminal offense.”
The global web of terrorist financing is complex and diverse, according to experts. Cash flow is generated from oil sales, kidnapping ransoms, drug trafficking and investments in business ventures such as construction and car trade.
Militant groups such as Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and Hamas, of the Gaza Strip, both designated as terrorist organizations by U.S. and Europe, have managed to remain afloat with funding from nations like Iran…