Lists of terrorism in the Emirates integrated strategy to combat the scourge of the age

Updated Saturday 2/25/2023 02:11 AM Abu Dhabi time The UAE's inclusion of 3 individuals and an entity on its local list of terrorism is an "important" step on the way to strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorist financing, and an affirmation of its efforts to combat the scourge of the age and its keenness to besiege it This step, which comes as part of a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism and extremism at the various legal, legislative, religious, cultural, media and security levels, aims to disrupt networks associated with facilitating the financing of terrorism and its accompanying activities.

A step that was added to other steps taken by the UAE, which received regional and international praise, as part of the UAE's comprehensive efforts to combat terrorism, along with its pioneering initiatives to promote tolerance to address the root causes of extremism and the means that lead to it Lists of terrorism The UAE issued a local list of terrorist entities in November 2014, in implementation of the provisions of Federal Law No.

(7) of 2014 regarding combating terrorist crimes, and updates it as necessary by decisions of the Council of Ministers This comes according to the text of Article 63 of the law, which confirmed that the Council of Ministers may "issue a decision that includes the creation of a list or lists in which terrorist organizations or persons that pose a threat to the state or that the state is internationally committed to including them will be included.

" And within one of the decisions in this regard, the UAE Cabinet issued, on Friday evening, Ministerial Resolution No 9 of 2023 regarding the inclusion of 3 individuals and a terrorist entity in the approved local list of persons, entities and organizations supporting terrorism.

The list included: Hassan Ahmed Makled, Rani Hassan Makled, Rayan Hassan Makled, and the entity is CTEX Exchange Harmony of Efforts The decision called on all regulatory authorities to count any individual or entities affiliated with or linked to any financial or commercial relationship with those names, and to take the necessary measures according to the laws in force in the country, including the freezing procedure in less than 24 hours.

The move comes a month after the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) on Tuesday, January 24, imposed sanctions on the Lebanese Hassan Makled and his company, CTEX Exchange, on charges of facilitating the financial activities of "Hezbollah", and playing a major role in Enabling the party to continue exploiting the economic crisis in Lebanon and its exacerbation The new sanctions also included the sons of Hassan Muqalled Rayan and Rani, who facilitate their father's financial activities and his company to support the party, according to the US Treasury Department.

Two days later, the Governor of the Banque du Liban and the head of the Special Investigation Commission, Riad Salameh, issued a statement announcing the freezing of the accounts of the names that were included in the lists of the Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC, with all banks and financial institutions operating in Lebanon International cooperation In this context, the UAE's decision to add the same people to its terrorist list comes within the framework of its belief in the importance of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism, and its keenness to update its approved list, to enhance its efforts in this regard.

It also comes within a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism and extremism at the various legal, legislative, religious, cultural, media and security levels From a legal point of view, the UAE has issued laws and legislation to criminalize any elements associated with terrorist organizations, including: Federal Law No.

(7) of 2014 regarding combating terrorist crimes, Federal Decree Law No (2) of 2015 regarding combating discrimination and hatred, Federal Decree Law No.

(5) of 2012 regarding combating information technology crimes, and Federal Decree Law No ( 20) of 2018 regarding countering money laundering crimes, combating the financing of terrorism and financing illegal organizations, and its executive regulations.

On the diplomatic front, the UAE has denounced, in the strongest terms, in various international forums, terrorism in all its forms and forms, and has always renewed its commitment not only to confronting and confronting terrorism, but also to fighting extremist ideologies that fuel the violence practiced by terrorist groups with the utmost brutality, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda "terrorists" In the field of combating the financing of terrorism, the UAE has made great efforts to strengthen the system of countering money laundering and financing of terrorism, through the laws it has issued and the steps it is taking.

The state is communicating at the international level to monitor and stop terrorist financing networks, through cooperation with other financial intelligence units And through international organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force for the Middle East and special programs for collecting and analyzing financial information.

International acclaim, and the UAE has succeeded in achieving the ideal equation in this regard, by combating terrorism, spreading security and safety, and respecting human rights, with an integrated strategy and inspiring initiatives that fight extremism on the one hand and spread tolerance, coexistence and human brotherhood on the other hand, which culminated a few days ago with the opening of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi Which includes a mosque, a church and a synagogue.

These efforts come weeks after an international report, the results of which confirmed that the UAE is one of the leading countries internationally in combating terrorist activities, by maintaining for the fourth year in a row its position and first place in the Global Terrorism Index The UAE is considered one of the safest countries among several effective countries in the field of combating terrorist and extremist activities, and one of the safest countries in the world with a "very low" level of risk of the spread of terrorist activity, according to the results issued by the Institute for Economics and International Peace, which is responsible for the index in January.

last second Unprecedented progress and within the latest international acclaim, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), on Friday, during the second session of the group under the presidency of Singapore in Paris, which concluded the FATF 2023 week, recognized the high-level political commitment and the strong progress shown by the UAE in this field.

The competent UAE authorities have made unprecedented progress in adopting international standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, through an approach based on improving coordination between the authorities concerned with confronting financial crimes, expanding the scope of international cooperation to prevent them, and prosecute their perpetrators, in addition to strengthening partnership initiatives between the public and private sectors The UAE welcomed the announcement made by the Financial Action Task Force, and affirmed its firm commitment to continuing its efforts in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and its continuous work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The UAE continues to implement a set of important and advanced measures to combat financial crime and to enhance the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing system, in line with the national strategy to combat this crime and the national action plan set Security Efforts On the security level, Abu Dhabi hosted, on January 9 and 10, the 46th Conference of Arab Police and Security Leaders, in the presence of all public security leaders in Arab countries and representatives of Arab and international bodies and organizations.

The two-day conference discussed the results of the coordination meeting of representatives of the concerned authorities in the Arab countries, to consider ways to enhance cooperation between them in the field of combating terrorism and organized crime During the conference, it was revealed that the final touches had been put on the project to develop Sheikh Zayed’s modern communications system between the bodies of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, which the Ministry of Interior in the United Arab Emirates, under the direction of Lt.

General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, was keen to complete in accordance with Latest technical developments The conference also revealed the establishment of a group of Arab experts concerned with monitoring and exchanging information on terrorist threats and analyzing them, in order to constitute an effective means to enhance field cooperation between Arab countries in the field of confronting terrorist threats.

The day after the conference, the Central Bank of the UAE issued new guidelines on countering money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism for licensed financial institutions, which include banks, finance and exchange companies, insurance companies, agents and brokers The guidelines, which entered into force immediately, contribute to enhancing the licensed financial institutions' understanding of the risks and the effective implementation of their legislative obligations related to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, taking into account the standards issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in this regard.

A pioneering experience The UAE has a pioneering experience in combating terrorism, during which it was keen to make prevention and international cooperation an approach to its policy, and took measures to prevent extremism before it turns into violent extremism It also paid great attention to development and its sustainability, and worked to consolidate the values ​​of tolerance and coexistence in society as one of the most important tools for combating extremism and terrorism, and joined many regional and international agreements related to combating terrorism.

The UAE has issued many laws and legislations and has adopted several national plans, strategies, initiatives and programs to combat terrorism and extremism Among the most prominent of these initiatives, the UAE established the Hedayah Center in 2012 in partnership with the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, which is an international center concerned with training, dialogue, research and cooperation in the field of combating violent extremism.

As part of its continuous efforts to combat extremism, especially on social media, the UAE and the United States of America have worked to establish the "Sawab" Center, which launched its activities in March 2015 It is an interactive electronic messaging initiative that aims to support the efforts of the international coalition in its war against Extremism and terrorism.

Misleading ideas The center looks forward to conveying the voices of millions of Muslims and non-Muslims around the world who reject and stand against terrorist practices and false and misleading ideas propagated by members of the organization The Sawab Center also works on harnessing the means of communication and social media on the Internet in order to correct misconceptions and put them in the right perspective.

The UAE is making many efforts to promote tolerance in order to address the root causes of extremism and messages that lead to extremism, and has launched several pioneering initiatives in this regard, including the Human Fraternity Document and the construction of the "Abrahamic Family House" .