By Al-Shorfa

By Mohammed

Preparations are under way in Bahrain to host a high-level international conference during the first week of November on combating terrorism financing, officials told Al-Shorfa.

Participants will work towards an agreement on an action plan to ensure financial institutions and charitable organisations in the Middle East and North Africa are not used to channel funds to terrorists and other illegal activities, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said at September’s Special Session of the UN General Assembly.

Financing is one of three fronts on which countries must work together to combat the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL), the other two being the military and ideological fronts, he said.

Al Khalifa urged religious scholars and institutions in the Arab and Islamic world to “expose the perversion in the ideology of ISIL and other similar terrorist organisations, and to lift the cover of legitimacy off any religious justification they hide behind”.

Arab League countries in September vowed to take all necessary measures to confront ISIL and to co-operate with all international, regional and national efforts to combat such groups.

An international fight

Bahrain affirms the “international policy of combating terrorism by all means possible, especially in regard to legislation and laws that aim to block terrorism financing channels”, said Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, chairman of the Shura Council’s foreign affairs, defence and national security committee.

Bahrain is keen on having an international role in combating terrorism, he told Al-Shorfa.

“The kingdom has a long history in [developing] anti-money laundering financial legislation and ensuring the safety of financial transfers between institutions and individuals, and has accordingly become a prominent financial centre in the region, particularly in the field of Islamic banking,” Al Khalifa said.

Other countries could benefit from Bahrain’s experience in this arena, he added.

“The timing of this international conference stems from the fact that Bahrain and its sisters in the Gulf region recognise the importance of active participation in the war on terrorism,” Al Khalifa said.

The participation of Muslim Arab and Gulf countries in the war on “terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq”, he said, “removes all doubt and denies these groups the opportunity to exploit the Islamic religion to serve their agenda”.

Bahraini MP Khamees al-Rumaihi called on conference participants to put forth “immediate and effective means to eliminate all forms of financing for terrorist groups and to combat all means of support for terrorist operations, leaving no loopholes”.

The international conference will make recommendations that can be applied in all parts of the world, not only in Syria and Iraq, he told Al-Shorfa.

Arab security co-operation

The kingdom volunteered to host the conference because it believes “Gulf states are not immune to the terrorism taking place in Syria, Iraq and other regions in the world”, according to attorney Farid Ghazi of Bahrain’s National Foundation for Human Rights.

The initiative confirms Bahrain is entirely opposed to any terrorist organisation, and that it recognises the importance of global security, he told Al-Shorfa.

“Security co-operation among countries is apt to deter organised crime and terrorism in all its forms, particularly as this relates to the activation of co-ordination in the areas of banking, finance and the movement of funds between financial institutions,” he said.

Al-Shorfa