UN told ‘dropping bombs might be best’ as many countries fail to combat terrorist financing
- About 60 per cent of the near 70 countries evaluated for their terrorist financing require major or fundamental improvements, experts say
- There is a need to address cryptocurrencies, the use of social media for crowd funding, illicit trade, the rise of extreme right-wing groups, activity on the dark web and new payment methods
An informal Security Council meeting heard on Thursday that many countries are failing to take action to stop the financing of terrorists and are not responding to the real threats their nations face.
John Carlson of the Financial Action Task Force, which sets standards and promotes implementation of measures to combat terrorist financing, said its assessment shows that “while many countries have basic laws in place, they’re not using them effectively as yet”.
“More than half of the countries, for example, are not taking effective action to prosecute terrorist financing or on [imposing] targeted financial sanctions,” he said.
Tom Keatinge, who heads the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies’ Centre for Financial Crime, said that according to the task force’s data, “approximately 60 per cent of the near 70 countries evaluated to date require major or fundamental improvements”.
“A two-thirds failure rate after close to 20 years of focus” on combating terrorist financing “hardly represents a success, I would suggest”.
Keatinge said his centre’s research shows that countries need to assess terrorist threats and then determine how to respond.