Countering the financing of terrorism in Iraq

 The Global Coordinated Programme on Detecting, Preventing and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT Programme) of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) within the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) concluded a joint workshop with the Republic of Iraq on “Countering the financing of terrorism in Iraq: Main implementation challenges and understanding terrorist financing risks” in Istanbul, Turkey. 

The three-day workshop was conducted in hybrid format, with experts delivering presentations online and in-person and 12 Iraqi law enforcement officials, financial intelligence analysts, prosecutors and judicial officials participating in-person. 

The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness and enhance the technical and operational capacity of Iraq’s national authorities and relevant stakeholders on suppressing the financing of terrorism within their jurisdiction and at the regional level in full compliance with relevant international standards. 

The event was designed taking into consideration the country needs in ensuring greater inter-agency coordination, strengthening knowledge regarding the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions 1373 (2001) and 2462 (2019), and effectively assessing and understanding the terrorist financing risks.  

Furthermore, protecting non-profit organizations from terrorist financing exploitation was addressed, highlighting their vulnerability to terrorism financing with a special focus on Recommendation 8 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). 

The event also discussed alternative remittance systems, bulk cash smuggling and emerging cross-border methods for transfer of criminal proceeds to terrorism financing with the content of FATF Recommendations 32 on cash couriers. Experts from UNOCT-UNCCT, INTERPOL and the Guardia di Finanza delivered presentations on these subjects. 

Participants shared national legal and operational measures to detect and address illicit financial transactions linked to terrorism financing in alignment with the FATF recommendations, as well as challenges to effectively implement domestic terrorist designations and prevention processes. 

In the future, the CFT Programme will continue to provide sustainable technical assistance to facilitate enhanced national capacity and coordination in countering the financing of terrorism, and further the overall implementation of an effective national AML/CFT regime in the Republic of Iraq.