Upload
others
View
0
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Agenda B: Suggesting measures for counter-terrorism against
religious terrorist groups
I. Agenda Introduction
Religious terrorism refers to terrorism done based on dominant religious influence
or character. Since 1980, terrorism motivated mainly by religion started to proliferate.
A cruel and inhumane form of terrorism conducted by these groups, including
martyrdom or suicide terrorism, has been a serious issue across the globe. Including
Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and so on, religious terrorist groups’ presence extended
throughout the past decades. Despite the effort from nations around the world to
eliminate the possible threats of terror from these terrorist groups, it is still far from
these groups begin eliminated.
In order to eliminate the global fear towards terrorist attacks that may lead to
devastating consequences, just as it was done at the September 11 attacks of 2001,
United Nations, bearing in mind the purpose of its establishment, calls for the need for
a systematic response of the global community. While the other issues have been
emerging in the recent years, considering the definition of the General Assembly First
Committee, designed exclusively for disarmament and international security, it was
inevitable to put this issue and to derive the most effective method of once again
securing world peace.
Key Terms
- Terrorism: the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, in the pursuit of
political aims
- Religious terrorism: terrorism provoked by radical religious beliefs
- ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant): Arabic Salafi Jihadist militant group
and an unrecognized proto-state, practically governing the region and
conducting a number of terrorist attacks across the globe
- Al Qaeda: A militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization made up of
Islamic extremist, Salafist jihadists
- Hezbollah: Shi’a militant group and political party based in Lebanon
II.Status Quo
Recently, proliferating religious terrorism has created the widespread fear of terror
attacks across the globe. The unprecedented number of terrorist attacks committed
since the mankind entered the new millennium has resulted in the threat towards
global peace. Today, religious extremism has become the main source of radical
actions defined terrorism, according to a recently released index of global terrorism.
Religious terrorism can be genocidal, nihilistic, or revolutionary. It is often even
vague for the world to decide if the perpetrators should be defined as terrorists, or
religious freedom-fighters.
There has been a war against terrorism launched after the world realized the
seriousness of the religious terrorism proliferating. Today, unlike the days of the past
where different types of religions led to different forms of terrorism, Islam remains as
the one solid basis of most forms of religious terrorism around the world. According
to a report issued by Joshua D. Wright, Islamic culture has predominantly been the
one to motivate people by moral sentiment. With Muslims tending to have more
fundamental beliefs than any other religion, and traditionally being seriously involved
in religious activities, it naturally led to people having a greater bond and tie with any
other activities conducted under the flag of Islam. Psychologically speaking, Islamic
culture was the most adequate form of religion that could ensure that a large group of
people were well attracted to.
One example of the most well-known religious terrorist attack made in the 21st
century will be the 9.11 attack. The attack has been proclaimed to be a series of
terrorist attacks by a group named al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden. After the attack
which resulted in unbelievable amount of casualties and deaths of thousands of
people, and an approximate of $10 billion damage on infrastructure and properties, al-
Qaeda announced the reason for their attack, stating that it was an inevitable choice
for them to protect the Islamic values and fight against the West, intruding the values
that they have fought to preserve.
Since then, other nations including the USA have launched a long-term project or
war, named the war against terrorism. War has achieved a certain extent of success,
with several religious terrorist groups including al-Qaeda losing their foundation, and
their leader being killed. There have been several attempts made by the United
Nations Security Council through its past resolutions including Resolution 731, 748,
883, 1390, and so on. International conventions have been held throughout the past
decades, including the Beijing convention of 2010, Terrorist Financing Convention of
1999, and so on.
III.Key States and Relevant Organizations
(1) USA
Global War on Terrorism, also known as the war on terror, was an international
military campaign triggered by the September 11 attacks of 2001 by the US
administration at the time. President of the States, George W. Bush made a speech
regarding this war on terror, followed by the Obama administration. So far, United
States of America has been taken a tough stance against terrorism. However, on 23
May 2013, President Barack Obama announced that the GWOT, Global War on
Terrorism is officially over, and that the operation of military and intelligence
networks will soon be finalized, except for those focusing on a specific group of
networks seeking to attack the United States. However, after the recent presence of
ISIL and Levant terrorist group, there has been a recent operation relaunched in order
to take care of the issue.
(2) ISIL
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a Jihadist militant group. It has been
designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations. It has earned its presence
in the international society because of its cruel, inhumane actions including releasing
videos of beheading its victims of a wide range, including journalists, civilians, and
soldiers. This organization originated from another sub-militant group which took part
of al-Qaeda operations. It now claims authority over religious and political areas over
all Muslims worldwide as a caliphate. ISIL, at this point is believed to be operational
in 18 countries across the world, and it currently owns budget of 1 billion US dollars,
and a force of over 30,000 soldiers.
IV.Future Outlook
War against terror seems to be a continuous project. ISIL is continuously
expanding with digitalizing means of recruit, such as Facebook, or other social
network services. It has proclaimed to be the body of order for the Paris terror attack
of 2015, and other terror attacks frequently done around the areas of North Africa and
the Middle East. Discussion regarding the intervention of ground forces, whether it is
the right choice or not has once been on the table for debate. Bombardment, currently
is the most widely used means of violence on the regions that the terror groups
currently is speculated to take control of. It seems that even in the future, such
confrontation composition between the world powers and religious terrorist groups
will continue, unless a more practical solution is suggested and adopted.
Although terror attacks on major cities around the world cannot be seen frequent
comparatively to that happening every day in African and Middle Eastern regions, it
seems that the major powers will still take the tough stance against the terrorist groups
only in cases of large terror attacks on their own cities. To take on the example of
France, when Paris was attacked in 2015 by ISIL, the president immediately ordered
massive bombardment on IS-controlled regions to the French Air Forces. Prior to the
incident, the level of involvement of France in operations to eradicate religious
terrorism was minimal, comparatively speaking. Conclusively, it may be foreseen that
unless a more unified, systematic measures are made, world’s confrontation with
expanding religious terrorist groups will continue.
V. Possible Solutions
Establishment of an international organization
International regulatory agency may be required in order organize and decide all
responses possible towards religious terrorism. The agency may be an international
body under the United Nations, to be able to influence the member nations and force a
certain level of specific limitations on the nations conducting an exceeding level of
violence that may harm civilian lives of the terrorist-influenced regions. With the
creation of an organization based on the consent of different influential nations from
regions across the globe, it will be able to create more effective, and systematic
response towards religious terror groups, and decide the extent of its intervention, that
possibly could be a major source of international conflict. The international
organization could function possibly like the Arms Control Association, but being
more binding, in terms of the regulations or measures it is able to impose.
Transparency
Transparency is required in order to be successful in eliminating the religious
terror groups, especially in the regions of conflict. Although there may be some
problems emerging with complete transparency, it will primarily give a better
understanding of different level of interventions of different nations, eventually
contributing greatly in the efficient operation of international monitoring. As every
nation without transparency will be moving to maximize their own personal profits,
and hence, transparency is required to find the adequate point of equilibrium where
the social costs for the globe as a whole will be minimized. The inspection will still be
respecting national sovereignty of individual nations.
VI.Questions to Consider
- Should violent means be the first option to consider when dealing with
religious terrorism?
- To what extent can religious terrorism really be defined as a pure form of
terrorism?
- Is it possible to solve the issue of religious terrorism in a peaceful way?
- Should countries not directly involved in the issue also be encouraged to
contribute to the eradication of religious terrorism?
- To what extent should the effort be made on saving the innocent civilians by
focusing more on national security of individual nations compared to that made
on eradicating the source of terrorism?