Preventing State Sponsorship of Terror
Terrorism is a big term, which refers to organized groups that are taking actions against people, which are usually not political, but violent. Some states around the world encourage these terrorist groups to act against different countries. These states sponsor the terror groups by funding them, giving them weapons and by letting them the legitimacy and freedom to work and train within their borders.
Today, we hear a lot about Syria and Iran sponsoring various terror groups. It is suspected that organizations like the Hamas and the Hezbollah are sponsored by them. According to the suspecting countries, the goals of this act of sponsoring (in Iran and Syria) are mainly harming Israel and the fragile status in the Middle East. Syria usually denies that it is helping these groups; Iran tends to admit that it is funding and training terrorists belonging to these groups in its borders but says that the headquarters are not in Iran, but in Damascus.
Another way of sponsoring terror is legally recognizing them as legitimate political groups, which are not dangerous. Many countries recognize different terrorist organizations as legal, such as Syria and Iran with Hezbollah and Hamas, Sudan with the Lord’s Resistance Army and Cuba with ETA.
As the Security Council, can we let this situation continue? Can we and should we allow countries to support terrorist actions?
Resources:
• http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2005/64337.htm
• http://www.terrorism-research.com/state/
