U.S. Presses for U.N. Resolution to Fight ISIS’ Financing

The United States and Russia are negotiating a new resolution at the United Nations Security Council intended to strengthen international efforts to cut off revenues that the Islamic State raises to govern territory and spread its ideology.

The United States, as the rotating president of the Security Council, is pressing for the adoption of the resolution at an unusual gathering on Dec. 17, at which some of the finance ministers from the 15 members of the council are expected to attend.

The new resolution against the Islamic State would be based on one first passed in 1999 to target the financing of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, its leader at the time. A similar measure was passed in February, directed at the Islamic State, but Russia, which holds veto power as a permanent member of the Council, has complained that it is routinely flouted.

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David Andrew Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an advocacy group in Washington, expressed skepticism that the new proposals alone would do much without more aggressive efforts to prosecute violators. There is already extensive evidence of transfers from wealthy donors in the Persian Gulf in particular, but few concrete penalties.

“There is still so much reticence to actually engage in that naming and shaming that this has limited impact,” he said.

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