For more than a decade, terrorist financing has been a widespread financial crime that the authorities have been trying to destroy. One of the most important problems in world policy is terrorism financing. Terrorists need money for their activities. At this point, terrorist financing provides individual terrorists or non-state actors with training, accommodation, funds to buy weapons, or financial support.
How are Terrorism Funds Provided?
- Money is obtained by illegal means.
- Money obtained by money laundering. For example, smuggling, drug trade, extortion, kidnapping, fraud.
- They use money laundering methods to use this illegally earned money more efficiently.
Anti-money laundering is key to Counter-Terrorist Financing . Financial institutions play an important role in combating the financing of terrorism because terrorists often rely on it, especially banks, to transfer money. Therefore, many laws and regulations have been enacted to prevent terrorist financing. It is known as counter-terrorist policies. According to these policies, financial institutions should know their customers closely. It must monitor and keep records of customers’ transactions. In this way, organizations can have sufficient information about their customers and ensure that their customers are not involved in financial crime. If funds are found to support terrorist activities, law enforcement agencies may prevent some of those activities.
THE FATF - Financial Action Task Force
FATF (Financial Action Task Force)
on the Prevention of Money Laundering was established in 1989 by G-7 countries. Comprising 35 governments and two regional organizations, FATF is working to combat money laundering and terrorism financing by creating standardized processes to stop threats to the international financial system. Terrorists can infiltrate the economic system of countries with weak controls. It is difficult to hide the financing of terrorism by establishing standard procedures. The FATF Standards require governments to take legal measures to ensure that the terrorism financing crime, which covers all elements stipulated by the Terrorism Financing Convention, is punished as a separate crime. Moreover, the FATF Standards reflect the measures created to counteract money laundering and ensure the private sector's implementation of preventive measures.
The Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) works on the legal aspects of the relevant universal legal documents, countering terrorism financing. This law generally includes a review of internal legislation to ensure that Terrorism Financing (1999) and the appropriate punishment of crimes related to the implementation of these international standards, financing of terrorism and the draft legislation, and to improve the capacity of those concerned to investigate, prosecute and prosecute terrorist financing through specialized training.
