In a closed meeting on Friday, 6 February 2015, it is understood that members of the United Nations Security Council (the “UNSC”) discussed a draft resolution targeting the ability of Islamic State (“ISIL”), al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front militants and other terrorist groups to generate financing, which is reported to have been proposed by Russia and is supported by the United States, China, Britain and France.  It is anticipated that the draft resolution will be…

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the Crimean referendum illegal. Whilst 100 UN Member States have voted in favour of the resolution, Russia declared that it was “encouraging” to see that 58 countries abstained (including China, India, Iran, Israel and South Africa) and 11 voted against the resolution (including Armenia, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan and Syria). Despite the majority vote, however, a General Assembly resolution is not binding on the UN Member…