The Christchurch mosque shooting in 2019, which claimed 51 lives and injured many others, served as a wake-up call to the world about the seriousness of right-wing or far-right terrorism. The attacks by right-wing terrorists often take place in western countries with a high number of casualties.

Apparently, the growing trend of far-right terrorism has not received adequate attention from the global counterterrorism police and the United Nations Security Council, although several governments, such as New Zealand and the United States, have referred to the acts as “terrorism”.

Until now, UN member states have been unable to agree on the definition of international terrorism. Thus, states have formed their own definition, leading to various interpretations and different lists of terrorists.

The UNSC issued a resolution against the Taliban in 1999, marking the global war on terrorists. The resolution has since become the only global counterterror authority, as well as the norm-setter. With only 15 members, the UNSC decision-making process is more efficient. As an executive organ of the UN, its decisions bind member states.

The five veto holder countries, the so called “shareholders”, are the main drivers of the counter-terror debate within the Council. 

Resolution No. 1267 (1999) imposed sanctions on the Taliban and was later expanded to include al-Qaeda, IS and their affiliates. Those three organizations are the only terror entities recognized by the council up to today. The UNSC has been listing hundreds of individuals and entities “alleged” to have affiliation with the three terror networks.

 

The UNSC recently reported that the sanction regime has effectively reduced the global threat of terrorism, with IS, for example, losing 95 percent of its territory. The regime has created a robust global financial system to suppress the financing of terrorism, effective inter-states cooperation and reliable antiterror infrastructure of member states. The UNSC has done a remarkable job in its global fight against the three terror groups, called “Islamist terrorism” by several western countries.

Meanwhile, far-right terrorism is motivated by race, ethnics or political ideology differences. The US calls it “racially and ethnically motivated terrorism”. The targets are mostly minorities such as Muslims, Jews, migrants, refugees, black communities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Right-wing terrorists have killed 11 people in an attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh and 22 people in El Paso in the US; nine Muslims in Hanau, Germany, and 93 people in one of the biggest terror attacks in Norway in 2011. Right-wing terrorists have also targeted government officials and parliament members, including the prime minister of Spain and the French president.

In 2016-2017, right-wing attacks doubled in the US and increased by 43 percent in Europe.

Interestingly, it took western countries years to grasp the reality and become fully aware of the seriousness of far-right threats. In most cases, right-wing attacks were classified as hate crimes, but many scholars consider such indifference a “dangerous level of ignorance”.

Nowadays, right-wing politics and populism are gaining traction in western countries for various reasons. There is no evidence of a correlation between the trend and the increase in far-right terror acts. Yet experts view such development as conducive for the future growth of right-wing terrorists because the narratives of the war on “Islamist terrorism” the western countries have been pursuing. 

When it comes to the UNSC, the political will of its members, especially the veto holders, is the key factor.

The UNSC’s policy toward right-wing terrorism mirrors its members’ domestic politics. In fact, four of the UNSC’s permanent members are western countries, home to and the breeding grounds of far-right terrorists. Up to know, the UNSC has only issued press statements condemning the attacks in Norway in 2011 and Christchurch in 2019. In fact, the 2019 statement was initiated by Indonesia and Kuwait as non-permanent member of the UNSC. It is largely insufficient.

However, the sun is peeking through the clouds. In April, the UNSC issued a trend alert on the transnational threats of extreme right-wing terrorism, in which it mentioned a 320 percent increase in far-right attacks in the past five years.

Let’s hope that the UNSC will treat the report seriously and take concrete measures in the near future to prevent more right-wing attacks. Actions speak louder than words.

It is never too late for the UNSC to act the way it has successfully responded to other acts of terrorism. It must deploy all the tools in its arsenal, starting with a resolution. It will be a game-changer under the following reasons: first, member states of the UN shall recognize far-right attackers as terrorists; second, sanctions will be imposed on far-right terrorists as the main tool to exercise the UNSC’s decision, such as freezing assets, travel bans and arm embargoes; three, member states, the UN and non-UN groups, as well as members of the private sectors shall harmonize their actions to fight far-right terrorism; and four, the UN will allocate a budget for that end, including for member states’ capacity-building.

These are the steps the UN has been taking to fight against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and IS in the past two decades, and according to a UNSC report, they have been effective. 

The council shall continue to use best practices, although we also cannot adopt a “one size fits all” approach. Adjustments must be made, including in deradicalization or counter-radicalization approaches.

Over the years, the UN antiterror capacity-building budget goes to Asian and African countries regarded as the epicenters of terrorism. Now, the UN needs to call for more funding or spread the allocation to include western countries.

Indonesia and many other countries are raising awareness about far-right terrorism and the emergence of new types of violence. In 2019, Indonesia and more than 40 countries successfully initiated a resolution in the General Assembly to “combat terrorism and other acts of violence based on religion or belief”.

 

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi flew from Jakarta to attend the adoption at the UN headquarters in New York, the US, to show Indonesia’s commitment and its condemnation of the Christchurch attack. The consensus on the resolution demonstrated the universal condemnation of all types of terrorism, including far-right terrorism.

Our only hope is that the UNSC will do something. Let’s accept that western countries have become a new epicenter and base of operation for new terrorist organizations: the far-right terrorists. We agree that terrorism is “a low probability, high-impact threat”. We must not tolerate any form of terror act.

It is fair to say that the UNSC’s inaction signifies a double standard in its antiterror policy.

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The writer is an Indonesian diplomat. The views expressed are his own.