Money laundering and terrorist financing occur throughout the world and represent great threats to the world’s stability and security. To combat money laundering and terrorism financing effectively, UNODC, as part of the Programme on Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), conducted a four-day training-course on Disruption of financial flows related to terrorism financing in Dushanbe, Tajikistan from 29 August to 1 September.
Some 18 representatives from the General Prosecutor’s Office, Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Financial Monitoring Department under the National Bank of Tajikistan participated at the training.
Funded by the Bureau of Counterterrorism of the US Department of State, the training materials are developed by the experts from the UNODC Global Programme Against Money Laundering, Proceeds of Crime and Terrorism financing (GPML) and delivered by international experts on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)
What is Terrorism Financing?
Terrorist financing is the raising of money involving the solicitation, collection or provision of funds, with the intention that it may be used to support terrorist acts, terrorists or terrorist organisations.
Whether they are part of large terrorist organisations which control territory, or members of small terrorist cells, terrorists need money. Their funds may originate from legitimate sources, or from criminal activities. A lack of funds limits their ability to prepare and carry out attacks, and to develop as an organisation.
“Disrupting the illicit financial flows is the key element to prevent terrorism financing”, said Ms.Nina Kuryachaya, UNODC National Programme Officer on AML/CFT. “The main goal of the course is to improve effectiveness of interagency cooperation in accordance with the best international practices, strengthen the national capacity of the country to combat Financing of terrorism , stay in compliance with Financial Action Task Force recommendations and increase the capacity of national trainers from respective competent authorities of Tajikistan”
The course is organized in concise way of thematic session accompanied by a practical activity reflecting the theme of the session. Certain scenario-based exercises are linked together by the same narration in order for the participants to focus on details of a hypothetical “case” and review the topics covered in previous sessions, which will undoubtedly help them solidify their knowledge. All scenarios and supporting materials were adapted to the national legislation to make them look as closer to the real-life investigation as possible based on current priority threats.
UNODC held a separate Train the Trainers session for three national trainers from the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Monitoring Department under the National Bank and the Ministry of Internal Affairs who integrated national examples for practical exercises to the training curriculum and will continue working with the staff on daily basis raising their capacity to the new level.
The course is the fifth in the series of courses and is part of a comprehensive program to build the capacity aimed at analysis, investigation, disruption, and interagency cooperation to support national efforts to combat the financing of terrorism.
The Programme on Countering Financing of Terrorism aims at strengthening the capacity of member-states to understand the risks of terrorism and its financing, improving the efficiency of inter-agency cooperation in accordance with international best practices, strengthening the country’s national capacity to counter Financing of Terrorism. In 2021-2022, UNODC trained over 70 specialists-practitioners of law enforcement agencies and supervisory authorities on combating terrorism financing.
***
For all information, contact Vasilina Brazhko,
Communication and PR Specialist at
UNODC Criminal Justice & PVE sub-programmes in Central Asia
by +996775987817 WhatsApp or
Vasilina.brazhko {at} un.org
