Eurojust tactical meeting on ‘LTTE front organizations’
A Tactical Meeting on LTTE Front Organizations, was hosted by
Eurojust (the EU institution responsible for co-ordination of
investigations and prosecutions between competent authorities in the
Member States), on March 30-31, 2009 in the Hague, Netherlands. The
Meeting was attended by representatives of the Intelligence and Criminal
Justice communities of EU member States, non-EU countries including Sri
Lanka and the Europol,said a press release issued by the Sri Lanka
Embassy in Brussels.
The participants were welcomed to the meeting by Jose Luis Lopes da
Mota, President of Eurojust. The European Union Counter- Terrorism
Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, also attended the opening session. The
participants were given a joint presentation on the current state of
affairs by Eurojust/Europol on the LTTE and its criminal activities.
Presentations were also made by several participating delegations,
followed by workshops on best practices and lessons learned from
criminal investigations and prosecutions, and on the best approach to
address this type of terrorism.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU Ravinatha
Aryasinha who delivered the keynote address on the theme “Confronting
False Dichotomies: the public good and the challenge of meeting the
terrorist front organization phenomenon in Europe”, observed that
contemporary counter-terrorism effort as an instrument for attaining
peace, has been described as a global public good’. He said not only are
front organizations a problem as they serve terrorists and contribute to
the mayhem they create, they also effectively exploit the generosity and
decency of civic minded people. Additionally, they undermine financial
systems, particularly at a time when they are already in deep crisis.
He added that while LTTE front organizations were the focus of the
two day Eurojust deliberations, the terrorist front organization
phenomenon is not a Sri Lankan problem alone, but was a generic problem
that affected all countries in the fight against terrorism.
Noting that there are a number of modalities the world over that have
been operationalized which provide for dealing with the problem of
charities and other bodies serving as front organizations that
contribute towards the perpetuation of terrorism, including the UNs
Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373, the US Executive Order 13224
and Sections of the UK’s Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006, Ambassador
Aryasinha said that the EU lacked commensurate specific collective
measures that sufficiently addressed the phenomenon of terrorist front
organizations, with the efficacy that this moving target demands. This
seemed unfortunate for an institution that has been considerably
pro-active in counter-terrorism and had even sought to extend the
definition of ‘terrorism’ to include public provocation to commit
terrorist offences, such as dissemination of terrorist propaganda
through the internet.
The Ambassador said that three false dichotomies stood in the way of
the EU helping evolve an effective regime that could help member States
to grapple with this problem.
First, for the purpose of being considered for listing as a terrorist
entity, whether a group is merely under investigation or has been
convicted; second, the manner in which the threat posed by terrorist
entities is assessed by politicians interested in diaspora vote blocks,
as opposed to that of the law enforcement/criminal justice communities
who are better equipped to make such assessments; and third by pitting
countering terrorism, against protection of freedom of expression. He
said, while there should be no slackening in insisting that the due
process is followed, urgent attention should be paid by Europe when
under the guise of freedom of expression, attempts are made to
support/glorify terrorism.
Arguing that notwithstanding its proscription as a terrorist entity
within the EU since May 2006, the LTTE, through front organizations such
as the TRO and Tamil Coordination Committee (TCC) has continued to
circumvent the impositions placed on them, he called upon EU member
states to scrutinize the financial statements submitted to their host
countries by LTTE front organizations such as the Tamil Rehabilitation
Organization (TRO), to verify whether the money collected ostensibly for
post-tsunami relief and reconstruction projects in the North were
actually used for the stated purposes, now that these areas have been
cleared by the security forces and no evidence of such projects have
been found. If it is clear that funds collected for charity have been
laundered, EU States should hold such LTTE front organizations
accountable and take action against them as terrorist front
organizations.
Ambassador Aryasinha cautioned that despite their imminent defeat on
the battlefield in Sri Lanka, it must be expected that the LTTE will
continue to metamorphose abroad.
Members of the LTTE and its fronts, capitalizing on their well
connected network and expertise, are likely to engage in clandestine
businesses or in criminal activities for other terrorist organizations,
in order to survive.
The Ambassador who called on the EU to list the TRO and other
associated LTTE front organizations as terrorist entities, said that
failure to take urgent action to arrest this trend in Europe
immediately, would not be in the self interest of the EU member States.
The Sri Lanka delegation to the seminar, included representatives
from the Defence Ministry and the Attorney General’s Department of Sri
Lanka.
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