Countering the financing of terrorism

Identifying how terrorists fund their operations and activities is a key part of dismantling terrorist networks.

(iStockphoto)

Stemming the flow of funds to terrorists has become a cornerstone of counterterrorism efforts by the international community. The threat from terrorism has grown due to the evolution of how terrorists finance their activities. It is widely recognized that there is a need to strengthen national frameworks in combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) while ensuring that a balance is kept between human-rights based approaches and the effective use of methods to detect, investigate and disrupt terrorism, as underscored by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2462 (2019).

In response to this, the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit and the United Nations Office on Drugs Crime’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism (UNODC/GPML) have been implementing, in co-operation with OSCE field operations, a multi-year training programme on countering the financing of terrorism.

The OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit also offers capacity-building to strengthen public-private partnerships between government agencies and the private sector, as well as for government agencies and non-profit organizations on preventing the abuse of non-profit organizations for terrorist financing. The Unit carries out these activities in line with recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization for combating terrorist financing and money laundering. The Action against Terrorism Unit also ensures that efforts aimed at investigating online terrorist-related offenses are in line with international human rights law.