Latest news with #ChapterVII
Shafaq News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
State of Law warns of dangerous showdown with Iraqi armed factions
Shafaq News – Baghdad The State of Law Coalition, led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, warned on Sunday against escalating tensions between the government and armed factions. The warning follows Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's acknowledgment of 'flaws' within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) — an umbrella organization of Shiite groups formed in 2014 to fight ISIS — after armed confrontations between PMF fighters and security forces at the Agriculture Directorate in Baghdad. Al-Sudani has ordered a review of PMF unit deployments, leadership qualifications, and compliance with regulations through a high-level ministerial and security committee. Coalition figure Hussein al-Maliki told Shafaq News that while the law 'must apply to all,' the government's latest steps — including an investigative committee's findings on the Agriculture Directorate incident and the dismissal of two Kataib Hezbollah brigade commanders — amounted to escalation. He linked the moves to recent remarks by the British ambassador on dissolving the PMF, and what he described as a US veto on passing the PMF Authority Law. 'These issues should be resolved politically,' he said, warning that external actors were trying to push the government into confrontation with 'resistance factions' in a way that could ignite a Shiite–Shiite conflict. Such a crisis, he argued, could derail the electoral process, push Iraq toward chaos, and even lead to an emergency government or a return to UN Security Council oversight under Chapter VII. Al-Maliki urged holding individuals accountable without naming their factions, saying that repeated public identification and the insistence on restricting weapons — without passing the PMF law — could give the impression the government was acting on foreign instructions, undermining public trust.
Arab Times
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Here's Kuwait's Full List of 118 Nationalities Linked to Terror Funding and Money Laundering
KUWAIT CITY, July 28: Authorities in Kuwait have updated the "National List" of individuals and entities accused of involvement in terrorism financing and money laundering, in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions under Chapter VII. The latest list, published by the Committee for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions, now includes 118 individuals and 13 entities or organizations believed to have ties to terrorist financing networks or illicit financial activities. According to the update, the 118 individuals come from a wide range of nationalities: 17 Syrians 16 Somalis 13 Yemenis 9 Lebanese 4 Australians 4 Tunisians 4 Bahrainis 3 Saudis 3 Pakistanis 3 Egyptians 3 Kuwaitis 2 Ugandans 2 Eritreans 2 Iranians 2 Qataris 1 Ukrainian list also names 11 expats, 9 stateless Bedouns, and 11 individuals of unspecified nationality The 13 named organizations span a number of regions and sectors, though specific names were not disclosed in the statement. Kuwait's efforts reflect a growing regional clampdown on financial networks that facilitate terrorism, with officials reaffirming their commitment to transparency, international cooperation, and security compliance in line with global counter-terror protocols.
Arab Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Arab Times
Kuwait enhances laws to combat money laundering and terror funding
KUWAIT CITY, June 30: Kuwait is intensifying efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by enhancing its legislative framework, announced Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Investment Noura Al-Fassam on Monday. The minister spoke in a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance following the publication of Decree Law No. (76) of 2025 in the official gazette, Kuwait Today. This decree introduces important amendments to Law No. (106) of 2013, reflecting Kuwait's integrated government efforts to strengthen measures against financial crimes. During the Cabinet meeting on June 17, the draft of the amended decree law was approved, underlining Kuwait's commitment to raising the effectiveness of the national response to money laundering and terrorism financing. The amendments align with the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and relevant international standards. The new decree law includes two significant amendments: Article One replaces Article (25) of Law No. (106) of 2013, empowering the Council of Ministers, upon the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to issue necessary decisions to implement United Nations Security Council resolutions related to terrorism, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. These decisions will take effect immediately upon issuance, consistent with Security Council Resolution No. 1373 of 2001. The executive regulations will define the rules for publishing these decisions, appealing them, authorizing the release of frozen funds for essential living expenses, and managing such assets.n Article Two adds a new Article (33 bis) to Law No. (106) of 2013, stating that any violation of decisions issued under Article (25) will result in fines ranging from 10,000 to 500,000 Kuwaiti dinars per violation. This penalty complements any additional sanctions imposed by regulatory authorities on financial institutions or designated non-financial businesses.n The Ministry emphasized that these amendments support the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing by broadening its powers to apply targeted financial sanctions in compliance with FATF standards. This includes the mandatory freezing of assets belonging to individuals and entities listed locally as terrorists, effective immediately upon decision issuance. Furthermore, the amendments enable the Committee to impose fines on violators and require publishing the national list of designated terrorists on the Committee's official website, enhancing transparency and meeting international obligations. Minister Al-Fassam concluded that the updated legislative measures reaffirm Kuwait's strong commitment to fighting financial crimes, safeguarding national security and stability, and fulfilling its global responsibilities.
India Gazette
17-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Indian Army contingent departs for France for joint military exercise 'Shakti'
New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): An Indian Army contingent, comprising 90 personnel, departed for France on Tuesday to participate in the 8th edition of the biennial India-France Joint Military Exercise 'Shakti'. According to a release by the Ministry of Defence, the contingent, primarily from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles along with members from other arms and services, will participate in the exercise, scheduled from June 18 to July 1, at Camp Larzac, La Cavalerie, France. Meanwhile, the French contingent, also consisting of 90 personnel, will be represented by the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (13th DBLE). The exercise aims to enhance interoperability and strengthen strategic ties between the two nations. As per the release, the exercise will highlight the growing defence cooperation between India and France. Exercise 'Shakti', a biennial training engagement, focuses on joint operations in a sub-conventional environment under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, with training conducted in semi-urban terrain. The exercise will serve as a platform for both armies to rehearse and refine tactical drills, share best practices in Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs), and train on new generation equipment, including contemporary military technologies. It will also foster physical endurance, esprit de corps, mutual respect, and professional camaraderie between the two forces. This edition of 'Shakti' underscores the deepening military-to-military connection and operational coordination between India and France, aligning with their broader strategic partnership. 'Exercise SHAKTI is a biennial training engagement between the Indian and French Armies, aimed at enhancing interoperability, operational coordination, and military to military connect. This edition will focus on joint operations in a sub-conventional environment under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, with training being conducted in semi-urban terrain,' the release stated. 'The exercise will provide a platform for both contingents to rehearse and refine tactical drills, share best practices in Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs), train on new generation equipment (contemporary military technologies) and strengthen physical endurance. It will also foster esprit de corps, mutual respect and professional camaraderie between the two armies,' it added. The Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) of the Army also took to X to make the announcement. 'The Indian Army contingent has departed today for France to participate in the 8th edition of Exercise Shakti, taking place in La Cavalerie, France, from 18 June to 01 July 2025. The Exercise will foster synergy and interoperability in conduct of counter terrorism operations in semi urban terrain,' ADGPI stated in the post. Last year, the 7th edition of the exercise was conducted from May 13-26 in the Umroi region of Meghalaya. (ANI)
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.N. Peacekeeping Can Help Trump Advance His ‘Back to Basics' Agenda
Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council renewed the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan amid a worsening security climate in the country. In voting for the renewal, the U.S. acting ambassador to the U.N., Dorothy Shea, stated that 'the United States is committed to the UN returning to its foundational purpose of maintaining international peace and security.' But for all the United States' rhetoric about the value and importance of peacekeeping, only two weeks prior it had withdrawn its own small contingent of military officers from the U.N. force in South Sudan, known as UNMISS. A week before that, a memo that leaked to the press included a plan to freeze U.S. contributions to peacekeeping missions altogether. This disconnect between U.S. rhetoric and actions may seem puzzling, but is consistent with U.S. President Donald Trump's policy agenda in three ways. First, pulling money from Blue Helmet peacekeeping operations, which is the main thing Americans think of when they think of the U.N., fits the Trump administration's broader political promise to voters to conspicuously slash what it considers to be wasteful bloat at the organization. Second, the removal of U.S. military personnel from UNMISS appears to be connected to South Sudan's initial denial of entry to a Congolese national removed from the U.S. as part of Trump's mass deportation policy in early April, though Juba later relented and admitted him 'in the spirit of the friendly relations between South Sudan and the United States.' If so, this kind of retaliation would be consistent with the transactionalism Trump is known for. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. Third, the U.S. rhetoric at the Security Council is aimed at countering what it views as mission creep in U.N. practice. As Shea pointedly noted when UNMISS was renewed, 'Peacekeeping mandates, including this one, should not pursue ideological goals that are difficult to define and even more challenging to implement on the ground, but rather focus on core Chapter VII functions.' As for the U.N. more generally, she added the 'potential of the system is commendable, but it has fallen quite far from its original mission,' reflecting a general White House concern for the U.N. to get back to 'basics.' Shea is correct that U.N. peacekeeping is worthwhile, and acknowledgment of that fact could offer the Trump administration an opportunity to further rethink and pivot on matters of global peace and security, as it has done in recent days on the India-Pakistan and Israel-Hamas conflicts, and may be planning on the Russia-Ukraine war. After all, of all the U.N. agencies that Trump could target for funding cuts, peacekeeping is actually the one most aligned with the U.N.'s core mission of conflict prevention. It is also the one that is most likely to be cost-effective—eight times more cost-effective than unilateral U.S. stability and support operations, to be exact. Based on that cost-benefit analysis, the Trump administration could actually get a better bang for its buck by coupling its desired U.N. reforms with efforts to enhance the factors scholars know help peacekeeping missions succeed, rather than by pulling resources altogether. U.N. peacekeeping is widely understood to be one of the most powerful and effective conflict-intervention tools in human history. Political scientists who have studied these missions have found marked improvements across the board on various measures, including the speed with which wars end, the reduced likelihood of them restarting and the reduced likelihood of civilians being killed or sexually assaulted. But as political scientist Page Fortna notes, U.N. missions are often sent to intervene in the hardest conflicts where they are least likely to succeed, and they are often inadequately resourced to boot, which explains why they are also widely perceived as ineffective. The many successes these missions achieve go uncovered by the media, while any failures that occur take the spotlight, with commentators then using those failures to call for the elimination of peacekeeping altogether. Instead, we should be learning from the wider picture of peacekeeping's many successes. To be sure, South Sudan is a case that might cast doubt on the efficacy of peacekeeping. Efforts toward sustainable peace have stalled. Refugee flows into neighboring countries remain at crisis levels. And war crimes against civilians by government forces are endemic, including a disturbing turn toward the use of chemical incendiary weapons as well as a recent attack on a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders. But this is a reason not for withdrawal, but rather for a stepped-up U.S. troop presence and infusion of funding, alongside reforms of the mission's mandate. That's because peacekeepers in South Sudan haven't always had the ability to put their best foot forward. It's easy to blame the U.N. for this, but in reality the organization is always beholden to the political constraints imposed by member states, particularly the permanent members of the Security Council and especially the U.S., its biggest donor. Member states set out the mandate for each peacekeeping mission from scratch, and they have opportunities to make substantive changes to improve effectiveness—including by holding senior commanders accountable—when they renew missions. In fact, as the 'penholder' for South Sudan at the U.N., the U.S. has greater latitude, and therefore greater responsibility, than most for setting that agenda and wielding what leverage it has. Member states also choose whether or not to provide adequate resources for operational success. Washington has historically provided 22 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, and as a result, as Mark Leon Goldberg makes clear, the U.S. footprint—and therefore leverage—in the peacekeeping world is heavy. Rather than pull out of peacekeeping, the Trump administration could use that leverage to wring even more value out of peacekeeping missions in exchange for its funding. For example, it could require that South Sudan and the Security Council implement—and fund—specific fixes known to make a difference. As an example, demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation, or DDR, programs are a staple of successful peacekeeping missions, but they are being starved for resources in South Sudan. This is a fixable problem and a missed opportunity. Protection of civilians also works best if small units of dedicated peacekeepers with situational awareness have the latitude to put themselves between vulnerable civilians and armed groups without waiting for approval from up the chain of command. Consider the contrast between the Dutch and Norwegian peacekeeping battalions in the former Yugoslavia. Future updates to the UNMISS mandate could strengthen the ability of the mission and its contractors to operate to prevent massacres without prior authorization. Political scientists Hanne Fjelde, Lisa Hultman and Desiree Nilsson also show that civilian protection operations work better in constraining nonstate actors than in constraining the armed forces of the government whose consent is required for the mission. To solve these problems, member states must use leverage at their disposal to change the behavior of the peacekeeping mission's host government as well as militias. In some respects, the U.S. approach to South Sudan following its initial withdrawal of personnel last month is heartening, as the updated rules just approved by the Security Council do call for more accountability for government forces. The Trump administration should be credited with these positive steps. But more could be done. In South Sudan, one driver of the ongoing tensions and civil war remains the easy flow of small arms and tanks into the country through Uganda. An arms embargo is up for renewal later this month, but according to retired U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Edward Carpenter—former chief of policy and plans for UNMISS and author of 'Blue Helmet'[full disclosure: he's also my brother]—the embargo is not only ineffective, as it goes largely unenforced, but also ironically counterproductive. That's because the ban on 'military aid' has historically been interpreted to prohibit the kinds of nonlethal supplies and assistance—such as uniforms, meals and military-to-military training in professional conduct and the laws of war—that actually assist government forces in maintaining discipline, creating the conditions for peace and providing alternatives to scorched-earth tactics. The language of the embargo was relaxed in 2023 to allow for just this kind of assistance, but so far the U.S. has failed to offer any to the South Sudanese government through various programs at the Defense Department's disposal. That's unfortunate, because these nonlethal services are exactly the sort of leverage Washington could use to pressure South Sudan's government to protect civilians. 'The government wants and needs these goods, which means they can be used to incentivize real change,' Carpenter says. Finally, if the Trump administration really cares about the success of U.N. peacekeeping missions, it has the ability to set new standards of risk and reward for participating states. One of the key political problems any peacekeeping mission faces is domestic casualty-aversion, which makes it harder for senior personnel to protect civilians when it counts. Peacekeeping can be dangerous: Just last week, two Cambodian peacekeepers lost their lives in South Sudan. And because member states often have no appetite for announcing such casualties to their home constituents, missions sometimes get shut down when they become too dangerous. But danger is to be expected in situations where civilians' lives are on the line. If the U.S. really wants to support not only the institution of peacekeeping but the idea of it, Washington could commit more troops rather than fewer—and model the resolve in the face of casualties that other troop-contributing countries have sometimes lacked when the going gets tough. This would reinforce U.S. leadership on the U.N.'s core mission. The U.S. is right to be concerned about revitalizing the U.N.'s core mission and values. If Trump views conflict resolution as the most important of those, the data shows that peacekeeping remains the surest of bets, despite the fact that certain hard cases have offered a mixed record. A foreign policy consistent with that goal would see the commitment of U.S. troops and treasure being increased rather than deprioritized, as they would yield valuable returns on investment. Charli Carpenter is a professor of political science and legal studies at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, specializing in human security and international law. She tweets at @charlicarpenter. The post U.N. Peacekeeping Can Help Trump Advance His 'Back to Basics' Agenda appeared first on World Politics Review.
