US Security Council Summit to adopt resolution to freeze IS funding worldover

The US Department of the Treasury Friday announced that it will adopt a new resolution on December 17, 2015,  to combat ISIL financing and strengthen global efforts to combat financing of terrorism.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew will chair a Summit of Finance Ministers of the United Nations Security Council  on December 17, on combating ISIL financing and broader opportunities to strengthen global efforts to combat the financing of terrorism.

The Security Council is scheduled to adopt a new resolution in December to focus its longstanding counter terrorism sanctions, including Al-Qaida sanctions, squarely on the ISIL threat.  At this historic meeting of Security Council finance ministers, the first of its kind, member states would adopt this resolution and discuss the additional steps needed to collaborate on efforts to cut off ISIL’s funding sources and bolster states’ ability to prevent the financing of terrorism.

“Cutting ISIL off from the international financial system and disrupting its financing are critical to effectively combating this violent terrorist group.  A united international front is vital to achieve that goal, and this meeting marks an important step in coordinating our efforts,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew.

This unprecedented summit of finance ministers recognizes the increasingly specialized work needed to combat terrorism, and is a follow-on to a similar summit in May in which U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and other interior ministers discussed the steps needed to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters.

“Denying ISIL access to the international financial system is a key element of any comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy it,” said United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power.  “The United States is focused on using every tool in the toolbox to defeat ISIL, including at the Security Council, and this historic Security Council Summit of Finance Ministers will help energize international efforts to choke off ISIL’s ability to sustain itself and its deadly terror.”