UN sets anti-terror deadline

The measures follow the attacks of 11 September

By Greg Barrow in New York

A United Nations committee set up to monitor steps taken by UN member states to tighten anti-terrorism legislation has published details of how it intends to carry out its work.

The counter-terrorism committee was set up as part of a UN resolution passed by the Security Council in the aftermath of the attacks on Washington and New York last month.

The committee is like a global headmaster that will cast a critical eye over report cards submitted by all 189 UN member states.

The reports, which are due to be submitted by the 27 December, are meant to contain details of what steps the member states have taken to block the activities of terrorist groups within their borders.

Guidance and punishment

The reports should take the form of answers to a terrorism questionnaire.

The kind of questions that are asked include:

• What steps have been taken to establish terrorist acts as serious criminal offences?
• And what measures, if any, have been taken to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts?

The committee is chaired by the UK Ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock.

He has the job of analysing the reports and deciding whether individual states are taking the necessary counter-terrorism measures as demanded by last month's Security Council resolution.

Those that fall short of these standards could face punishment if the Security Council decides they are acting in bad faith.

But the counter-terrorism committee also has the option of offering additional guidance and technical assistance to states that lack the capability to fight terrorism on their own.