UNODC holds regional workshop on " International and Regional Cooperation to Disrupt Illicit Financial Flows Derived from Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants"
Nur-Sultan, 1-2 October 2019
On 1-2 October 2019, UNODC held a Regional workshop on "
International and Regional Cooperation to Disrupt Illicit Financial Flows Derived from Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants" in Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan.
The event was organized under Sub-Programme-2 of the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries (RPANC), in cooperation with UNODC Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT), UNODC Global Programme against Money Laundering, Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism (GPML) and the support of experts from Western Union and ABN-Amro. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) law enforcement and financial intelligence experts from the Central Asia region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan) as well as from Afghanistan and Pakistan, discussed targeting illicit flows deriving from TIP and SOM.
In his opening remarks the Director of the law enforcement Academy under the General Prosecutor Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Maralbek Yeshimov pointed out that "The nature of TIP & SoM is multifaceted, complex and clandestine which poses significant challenges for the development of effective countering strategies and emphasised on uniting efforts in the region against it"
The workshop highlighted the importance to strengthen public-private partnership especially with the financial sector, to increase financial profiling capacities of law enforcement institutions and financial investigation units in the region, as well as data collection capacity in the areas of TIP/SOM and the illicit financial flows generated therefrom.
Mr. Danilo Campisi from the UNODC Regional Programme mentioned that "while Illicit profit is at the core of these transnational crimes, financial investigations and intelligence are not often used to identify, investigate or disrupt the crime of TIP/SoM" he assured that UNODC under its Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring countries stands ready to support regional cooperation on disruption of illicit financial flows as needed.
At the end of the workshop the delegations agreed on the need for a study on illicit financial flows derived from trafficking in person and smuggling of migrants in West and Central Asia. Participants further agreed on the need to revitalize and operationalize the existing informal regional network on TIP/SoM with the support of the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries, under the leadership of the Academy of
UNODC thanked the European Union and the Republic of Finland for funding this workshop.