On 19-21 November 2024 the IIJ held the first Regional Workshop within the multi-year project on Building Capacity and Improving Cooperation Mechanisms on Countering the Financing of Terrorism in Southeast Asia. The workshop focused on human rights-compliant approaches to CFT and risk-based implementation of FATF Recommendation 8 – one of the key thematic areas identified as a regional priority at the official launch of the project in June 2024. The event was attended by delegations of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, comprised of prosecutors, financial intelligence specialists, investigators, representatives of oversight authorities and non-profit organisations.
The workshop focused on key challenges with designing and implementing effective CFT measures while upholding human rights standards and preserving the humanitarian goals of NPOs, as well as protecting their fundraising and spending abilities. The delegations exchanged good practices on conducting national risk assessments of the non-profit sector and introducing risk-based approach to regulation and oversight. Important discussions were held on improving public-private outreach and increasing the effectiveness of interagency cooperation on CFT.
As the IIJ Executive Secretary Mr. Steven Hill mentioned in his opening remarks, “protecting the non-profit sector from terrorist abuse is both a critical component of the global fight against terrorism and a necessary step to preserve the integrity of the NPO sector and donor community”. He also pointed to the importance of implementing focused, proportionate and risk-based measures to mitigate these risks – ones that that are not overly burdensome or restrictive for NPOs.
This approach was shared by the country delegations as they discussed the various ways in which they can improve the engagement of the non-profit sector in CFT and build sustainable mechanisms for public-private cooperation.
The IIJ is committed to supporting countries of the Southeast Asian region in their efforts to build resilient CFT frameworks in compliance with FATF Recommendations and international standards set by the UN.