Time to Act : The LTTE, its Front Organizations, and
the challenge to Europe - 5:
The danger of not taking action against the LTTE/its fronts
Excerpts from address by Ravinatha Aryasinha, Ambassador of Sri Lanka
to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg, at the EU-US International Seminar on
the LTTE, held at the Europol Headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands,
9-10 Dec 2008.
a) Sri Lanka’s efforts to defeat terrorism could be wasted
Ravinatha Aryasinha |
At a time Sri Lanka is engaged in the difficult task of putting an
end to terrorism in the North of the country, it is vital to also end
the capacity of the LTTE and its front organizations to raise funds and
engage in propaganda in western countries. Else the sacrifices being
made on the ground would be wasted and the capacity to sustain the
conflict will be revived.
b) No country is insulated from the LTTE and its front organization
activity Countries of high intensity LTTE activities - their law
enforcement and monitoring agencies, need to interdict the networks of
the LTTE and its front organizations.
They should do so not merely in terms of its international
obligations to help in the fight against terrorism wherever it takes
place, but also because today these terrorist front organizations are
getting engrained into and are exploiting the body politic of many of
these countries, abusing their grant of asylum and corrupting and
criminalizing their respective societies.
c) Ramifications abroad of an LTTE defeat in Sri Lanka The situation
is likely to get worse abroad, in a scenario where the conventional
fighting capacity of the LTTE is defeated.
In such a case, the pressure on the diaspora would be intensified by
the LTTE as there is likely to be resistance to continue to fund the
LTTE. Networked and trained as they are, in order to survive, members of
the LTTE are also likely to be forced into engaging/prolonging
clandestine businesses or engage in criminal activities as mercenaries.
What more should be
done in Europe ?
a) List TRO and other front organizations or add to list of terrorist
entities in the also known as (a.k.a) category
Through Council Decision 2006/379/EC of 29 May 2006 the EC applied EC
Regulation No. 2580/2001 on specific measures directed against groups
and entities with a view to combating terrorism to the LTTE. Despite
this stricture it is clear that the LTTE through its front organizations
continue to engage in terrorist financing making a mockery of the EU
listing of the LTTE.
With a view to addressing this continuing trend, Sri Lanka presented
in June 2008 a comprehensive dossier to the EU on the TRO and other key
LTTE front organization operations in Europe and elsewhere.
This dossier was further supplemented with information on continuing
appeals being made by the LTTE through the front organizations to the
Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora for enhanced financing through numerous
propaganda campaigns and other means. All our countries are obligated to
implement UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
Additionally all parties to the 1999 UN Convention on Terrorist
Financing are required to take specific measures against fund raising
activities of terrorist groups. The US and Canadian proscriptions of the
TRO and the WTM respectively, provide a plethora of evidence that
underlines the culpability of LTTE front organizations. It is necessary,
that the EU address this problem in an effective manner.
b) Greater Vigilance
It is of paramount importance that greater vigilance is exercised by
law enforcement and intelligence agencies in EU countries on the varying
methods adopted by particularly LTTE front organizations. In this
context, it is vital that the finance generating and arms procurement
networks of the LTTE, which has a global reach and exploits Tamil
Diaspora presence, is arrested in all parts of the world,
simultaneously. Doing so piece meal within states or leaving lag time in
action taken between states, will only allow the LTTE and its front
organisations to move their operations to avoid detection.
c) Modalities for Intelligence Cooperation.
It is critical that we identify the clandestine network in place
across the globe, involved in arms procurement and money laundering and
other illegal operations. This is not something the Government of Sri
Lanka can do on European soil, but must necessarily be initiated by the
respective governments themselves.
d) Modalities for Criminal Justice Field Cooperation
Understanding each other’s criminal justice systems relating to
terrorism, building of formal and informal contacts/enhanced interaction
between relevant authorities, cooperation among prosecutorial
authorities, exchange of information on a pro-active basis between
relevant entities, cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs)
in the respective jurisdictions and entering into Mutual Legal
Assistance arrangements in criminal matters, are some of the means
through which this objective can be addressed.
Conclusion
The network of the LTTE and its front organisations transcends the
national borders both within the European Union, as well as outside.
We have seen sufficient evidence in the prosecutions such as those
carried out in the US, Canada and Australia, that the operations of
front organisations are an integral part of the LTTE.
Taking concerted action against all entities who act for, or on
behalf of, or at the behest of terrorist organizations, is an obligation
all our countries have voluntarily undertaken under the numerous UN
conventions on terrorism, which we have signed and ratified.
Doing so has also cast on us, the obligation to implement these
provisions equally, to all terrorist entities across the globe. Sri
Lanka calls upon the European Union and other European countries to
honour its pledges in this regard, with respect to the LTTE and its
numerous front organisations operating in their respective countries. It
is indeed, time to act.
Concluded |