Terrorist Financing

The problem of terrorism has captured a great deal of attention in recent years and attempts to address it have risen high on agendas globally. One of the most effective strategies known to impede the activities of terrorist groups is to cut off their access to funds. It therefore falls under the mandate of the U.N. Counterterrorism Committee to seek ways to identify and cut off access to the funds that facilitate terrorist activities.

Sources of finance for terrorist activities are known to involve funds raised from personal donations, profits of legitimate business, and charities, (whether these charities are fronts, duped, or genuinely charitable organizations which also divert funds towards terrorism). They also include funds raised in blatantly criminal manners, such as the drug trade, the smuggling of goods and weapons, kidnapping, extortion, and fraud. Care must therefore be taken when striking at terrorists’ sources of finance, both to avoid impeding innocent businesses and charities and to avoid expending resources needed to track down common criminals and black-marketeers,

Analogous Case

It is not difficult for terrorist organizations to make their finances seem legitimate. Terrorist financing and money laundering seem to be complete opposites, but over time they have become operationally similar.

Money launderers raise money through criminal activities, make up a legitimate reason for being in possession of the money, and then seek to re-integrate these funds into the financial system, whereas terrorist organizations are focused on the purpose of the funds, not the source. Today, terrorist organizations have adopted money-laundering techniques and use legitimate businesses to launder money that has been received illegally so that it can easily be manipulated to fund their activities. One approach to the problem, then, is to adopt methods for investigating and combating money-laundering to address terrorist-financing.

Past Resolutions



The United Nations has previously adopted resolutions relating to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden. The UN maintains a list of suspected terrorists and terrorist organizations that have associated with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden, with the agreement that all members of the UN must freeze the assets of the people and groups named on that list. These measures are taken so that their funding may be cut off.

Founded in 1989, the inter-government Financial Action Task Force (FATF), promotes policies that work against money laundering and terrorist financing. The organization aims to set uniform policies in participating countries that work against terrorist acquisition of funds. The FATF also verifies that countries are implementing their policies.

Questions to Consider
1. What does your country do to combat terrorism? Does your country act as a safe haven for terrorists?
2. Does your country’s government or any element thereof participate in any anti-money laundering/terrorist financing policies?
3. Are there any situations in your country’s history in which they have dealt with terrorism?
4. How much terrorism/support of terrorism is in your country?
Remember, learn and discuss the opinion of your country on the subject, not your personal opinion!
Sources:
http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/0,2987,en_32250379_32235720_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
http://www.fintrac.gc.ca/
http://unctc.unctad.org/aspx/index.aspx
Useful sites:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
http://www.un.org
www.angelfire.com/pq2/jcymun/committees/ctc2.doc