As the UN General Assembly gets under way this week, President Barack Obama plans to take his pitch against the Islamic State militants to the world body by pushing for a resolution to stem the flow of foreign fighters joining terrorist outfits.
The US-proposed resolution will seek the prosecution of those travelling abroad to join the extremist organisations and those who help them, including by raising funds. Obama, who is to chair a session of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, will seek adoption of the resolution.
The move comes against the backdrop of US intelligence assessments that there are some 15,000 foreigners from 80 countries fighting for the ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The figure includes more than 2,000 Europeans and some 100 Americans.
The proposed resolution, cited by The New York Times on Monday, would require all nations to have domestic laws and regulations in place that criminalise attempts by their citizens to travel abroad to join terrorist organisations. The countries will also be expected to bar the entry and transit across their territory of suspected foreign terrorists. They will also be required to obtain and share airline passenger lists, and information about suspects.
US National Security Adviser Susan Rice believes the resolution “will increase the obligations on states to try to prevent and deter the flow of foreign fighters”. As she put it at a news briefing on Friday, the resolution “will move the ball down the field in terms of the international legal architecture and obligations on states to try to combat this challenge”.
“I do expect that we will have a successful resolution, which means agreement among at least a majority of member States and no vetoes, but I expect actually it will be a resolution that we’re able to reach unanimity on given the import of the issue,” Rice said.
Although Obama has stated that close to 40 countries are part of the global coalition against ISIS, top administration officials have refrained from providing details of the nature of support offered by those countries whether in terms of conducting air strikes or joining the ground offensive against the militants.