India to Host Terror Funding Meet: Significance, Objectives

Why in News?

• India will host the Third No Money for Terror (NMFT) Conference on November 18-19.
• This Conference aims to progress the discussions on combating terrorist financing held by the international community in the previous two Conferences in Paris (2018) and Melbourne (2019).

What’s in today’s article?

• No Money for Terror (NMFT) Conference – About, previous conferences
• News Summary

No Money for Terror (NMFT) Conference

• The NMFT started in 2018 as an initiative of the French government which had, in 1989, laid the foundation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
  • FATF is the international body at the forefront of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
• The Conference aims to create platform for international discussions on countering terror financing.
• It also includes discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperative aspects of the terrorism financing.
• The continuing activities of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, despite territorial defeats in Syria-Iraq and Afghanistan respectively, necessitated the NMFT conference.

‹ ›

Previous NMFT Conferences

• The 2018 conference
  • It was organized by France, which was attended by some 70 countries and the leaders of almost 20 agencies.
  • The conference agreed on fully criminalizing terrorism financing, even in the absence of a link to a specific terrorist act.
  • It also agreed on enhancing the traceability and transparency of financial flows.
  • The conference also discussed traceability and transparency of non-profit organisations (NPOs) and charitable funds.
• The 2019 conference
  • Hosted by Australia with participation from 65 delegations and representatives from 15 international bodies.
  • The conference identified new channels through which terrorism may be financed. These included:
    • kidnapping for ransom
    • emerging technologies such as digital and cryptocurrencies, stored value cards, online payment systems and crowdfunding platforms.
  • It recognised the critical role played by the private sector to detect and prevent misuse of financial systems by terrorists and flagged the need for monitoring of NPOs.

News Summary

• PM Modi will inaugurate the third global ‘no money for terror’ NMFT conference in the national Capital on 18^th
• The conference will be organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• India was supposed to host the conference in 2020, but it was postponed due to the pandemic.

Agenda for 2022 terror conference

• The agenda for the NMFT 2022 includes:
  • use of virtual assets and crowdfunding platforms by terrorist entities, their use of the dark web,
  • the links between terror financing and legitimate economic activities, and
  • payment intermediaries.
• This conference is largely a build-up on concerns raised during the Interpol Conference and UN General Assembly’s Counter Terrorism Committee Conference held in Delhi recently.
• India also plans to discuss the misuse of non-profit organisations and non-financial businesses and professions in terror financing, as well as such financing through the Money Transfer Service Scheme and hawala networks.