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?