Island - 10/04/99

LTTE uses Internet sites for fund-raising

• 14th Symposium on International Terrorism
(Opening Address by R. E. Kendall Q.P.M.M.A.Secretary General of Interpol)

The presence of the International Community and of our organization here is certainly one way to tell you, minister and your people, that your country, that has suffered so much at the hands of terrorists, is not alone in its struggle.

It is certainly sad to see such a beautiful country, rightly called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, being so affected by the scourge of terrorism. It is my sincere hope that when you, delegates to this symposium, leave Sri Lanka in a few days, you will know more also of the terrorism situation in Sri Lanka. I believe it is very important that we share our experiences. Terrorism in this country is a day-to-day reality.

The killing of nine police officers in Batticaloa some time ago, and the murder of a member of parliament at the end of July are just two of the most recent terrorist acts perpetrated against the Sri Lankan people, not to forget the number of innocent civilian victims including women and children.

The theme for this year’s symposium is the financing of terrorism. This is in keeping with last year’s symposium in Spain, which focused on terrorist support networks. For any terrorist organization to continue to operate, it must either receive or be able to generate financial resources. One comment often heard in discussions on terrorism is how it has changed over the last few years. How it has become more violent and indiscriminate.

With the political and economic changes of the last few years, there has also been a change in the relationship between states and terrorist organizations. State sponsorship is not at the level it used to be.

Therefore terrorist organizations are increasingly in a position where they have to fend for their own resources. As financial resources from various countries come to an end, other sources of financing must be secured.

Lawfully-raised money constitutes an important part of the financing needed to carry on terrorist activities. For example, donations in the expatriate community will be diverted to terrorist organizations.

These donations are often made in good faith, with the hope that they will contribute to social and economic improvements.

On the other hand, terrorists, being criminals and having access to the networks and weapons of the criminal world, will naturally turn to crime to secure their financial resources.

We are witnessing more and more criminal acts committed by people where the profits go to a terrorist organization. Alliances with traditional crime organizations are seen where both groups benefit from these arrangements.

During this symposium you will hear of very concrete cases where terrorist organizations have been involved in various criminal schemes. Thefts, extortion, blackmail and drug trafficking are just a few fields in which terrorists have become active. In fact, it appears that wherever there is money to be made, in legal or illegal activities, the probability is that one terrorist organization or another will get involved at some point in time.

The portent of the problem of terrorism financing has been recognized by the United Nations, where they are currently working on an international convention on the financing of terrorism. In this respect, I am pleased to see a representative from the United Nations with us for the symposium. I have also followed closely the statements made by the Sri Lanka President and other representatives of the political committee at the UN General Assembly in New York. Our work as police officers in the face of terrorism is quite simple. In fact, because we consider terrorism as a series of ordinary law crimes, our methods are the same as they would be for dealing with any other form of serious crime. We must do all in our power to prevent terrorist acts from taking place.

In the past, terrorist organizations for the most part limited themselves to one country or one area to carry out their activities. However, that is no longer the case. When it comes to the procurement of resources, especially financial resources, the whole world has become their oyster.

A study completed last year at Interpol’s General Secretariat revealed that most, if not all, major terrorist organizations, including ‘the Liberation Tigers of Tamil’ (LTTE), have interneT sites, which they use not only for propaganda, communication and recruitment, but also for fund raising.

When, despite our vigilance, terrorist acts are committed, we must ensure that those responsible are apprehended and brought to justice.

To those who say that terrorism is political and that we should not be involved, I would respond that terrorist acts must not be accepted as political statements, they are bombings, kidnapping, butchery and murders, which no alleged motivation be it political or religious can justify. As an international police community we must do our best to do something about the situation. Faced with the internationalization of terrorism, we have no choice but to increase international police co-operation.

The first and most important step towards effective police co- operation is the exchange of information. This is where Interpol plays a vital role.

We have in place various tools that can be used by member countries; tools such as a communication system linking all our 177 member countries, and also a very modern computerized database.

Last year, the general secretariat received 150,000 messages. During the same period, 2.5 million messages were exchanged between various Interpol member countries.

The use of this system for information exchange between member countries, and between member countries and the General Secretariat, has allowed us to build an important database containing 200,000 nominal references, many of them on terrorists, as well as various investigations and cases.

To foster the exchange of information through our communication network, and the proper storing and utilization of this information in our ICIS database, the Interpol criminal information system, must remain a priority.

We must also continue to disseminate this information, either as intelligence, or in its raw format, through various formats, such as the notices system (we currently have over 400 ‘Red Notices’ on wanted terrorists issued at the request of more than 20 countries).

Furthermore, we must increase our capabilities to produce treated and refined information, in the form of operational or strategic criminal intelligence. During this symposium, you will be briefed on an analytical study on terrorism support networks and financing in Europe.

This analysis is being conducted with the assistance of the Analytical Criminal Intelligence Unit of Interpol’s General Secretariat.

Of course, Interpol is not the solution to all crime problems, however much we would like to be. But we certainly do have the tools and the systems in place to at least make a terrorist’s life more difficult.

As excited as one may be about strategic changes, being developed within the organization, Interpol cannot function in a vacuum. Member countries must contribute.

I know that the President and the Sri Lankan government are committed to a peaceful solution to the Sri Lankan situation. The resolution of a terrorist situation is never easy, as can be seen in Northern Ireland, Spain, or Algeria.

A little time ago, we were given yet another example of the difficulties of achieving peace in a terrorist-plagued country. The day after Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and the Palestinian authorities President Yasser Arafat signed a document to restart the peace process, there were two new bombings in the area.

The massacres in East Timor again bear witness to the contempt in which terrorists hold democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Allow me to finish my comments by re-emphasizing Interpol’s commitment to assist Sri Lanka, and any other country, which suffers from terrorism. Terrorism is no longer one country’s problem. It is an international problem which requires an international solution.