From 19–21 November 2024, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) took part in a regional workshop on the “Human Rights-Compliant Approaches to Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Risk-Based Implementation of FATF Recommendation 8: Preventing terrorism-financing abuse of the non-profit organization sector in South-East Asia”, in Cebu, Philippines.
The three-day workshop was organized by the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) with the support of the Government of Canada. The workshop is part of IIJ’s regional project on building capacity and improving cooperation mechanisms on countering the financing of terrorism in South-East Asia. It gathered representatives of Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam, as well as representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and civil society organizations.
The workshop aimed to provide capacity-building for practitioners from South-East Asian countries on international frameworks relating to countering the abuse of non-profit organizations (NPOs) for terrorist financing in a human rights-compliant and gender-sensitive manner which protects financial inclusion, legitimate activities, and civic space.
During the workshop, CTED provided an overview of regional trends and vulnerabilities of NPOs to terrorism financing based on its country assessments. CTED also outlined the relevant Security Council resolutions and other international norms and standards on countering the financing of terrorism, particularly those relating to the protection of NPOs from terrorist abuse and the preservation of their legitimate activities and/or humanitarian goals. Additionally, CTED offered insights on the respect of procedural safeguards and human rights in the context of investigation and prosecution of terrorism financing offences. CTED’s presentations were informed by the findings of its visit assessments in the region, as well as recent analytical products such as the 2023 thematic CFT summary assessment of gaps, the CTED Trends Tracker on human rights, and the CTED Trends Tracker | Evolving Trends in the Financing of Foreign Terrorist Fighters’ Activity: 2014 – 2024.