UN Security Council calls for cooperation against travel of foreign terror fighters

The UN Security Council on Friday called on member states to boost international and regional cooperation to prevent the travel of foreign terrorist fighters from or through their territories.

In a presidential statement adopted here by the council, the most powerful UN body also called on member states to increase and improve intra and inter regional information sharing between origin and transit states.

The 15-member UN body heard a ministerial briefing on threats posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) who are considered to have intensified conflicts in countries like Syria and Iraq. FTFs are individuals who travel to a country other than their resident states or nationality to participate in terrorist acts.

The UN Security Council also deliberated a report which revealed that there are now over 25,000 foreign terrorist fighters from over 100 countries who have traveled to join or fight for terrorist entities associated with al-Qaida, the Islamic State, and Al-Nusrah Front.

There has an estimated 70 percent increase in FTFs worldwide between the mid-2014 and March 2015, said the report, noting that the flow is mainly focused on movement into the Syria and Iraq.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in the council meeting that "this trend means more FTFs in the front-lines, a bigger pool of expertise available to terrorists, and a menace to their countries of origin once they return."

The report noted that challenges of responding to the FTF threat lie in areas like international information sharing, intelligence collection, effective border control mechanism and the Internet and social media.

Countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia, are now facing the issue of FTFs which is believed to have increased the duration and intractability of the conflicts in these countries, according to the report. Endite