UN panel urges S.E. Asia to choke terrorist funds

MACTAN Island, Philippines (Reuters) - Southeast Asian states, facing threats from terrorist groups, must crack down on international funding of such groups, said the head of the U.N. Security Council counter-terrorism panel on Thursday.

Ellen Margarethe Loj also urged governments in the region to respect human rights in the fight against terrorism as experts from 60 countries gathered in the central Philippines to formulate fresh approaches to tackling terrorist threats.

"One of the key challenges in this area will be responding to the ways in which terrorist organizations find new, unregulated ways of channeling funds," said Loj.

The Danish diplomat said al-Qaeda-linked militant networks in the region, such as Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf Group, have been taking advantage of the informal remittance system.

She said funds for terrorist groups were being channeled through religious, charitable and relief organizations.

The U.N. Security Council has been worried over the slow progress in criminalizing the financing of terrorism in southeast Asia, with more than half of countries in the region yet to enact such laws.

Nearly half of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have yet to ratify the international convention concerning the financing of terrorism.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in a speech read by her executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, said the counter-terrorism experts forum would lay a "realistic middle ground to counter terrorism."

Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's foreign minister, said one of the dilemmas in the fight against terrorism was striking a balance between measures to defeat the threats and the protection of civil liberties and human rights.

"We must not become monsters ourselves in order to defeat the monster, states must not sanction state terror to allegedly fight terror," he told the forum.

"The superior morality of the rule of law, democratic and transparent government and respect for diversity are the most powerful weapons against extremism and intolerance."

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panel-urges-se-asia-to-choke-terrorist-funds.html