Global counterterrorism is pursued through a closed institutional infrastructure. It includes UN entities, among which the Office of Counter-Terrorism (OCT). FATF recommendations are internationally endorsed global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing to enable countries to tackle illicit use of the financial systems. The FATF’s approach has been criticized as enabling governments to target civil society through repressive financial regulation. In 2020, the FATF alerted governments that used its AML/CFT standards to inappropriately freeze civic activists’ and organizations’ accounts and initiate dubious human rights organizations’ investigations. Recognizing that the recommendations were misapplied, FATF showed capacity to mitigate its consequences. The UN Global Terrorism Strategy should also acknowledge civil society in practical actions, such as establishing a civil society liaison office to ensure a rights-based approach and create pathways for national civil society actors into relatively closed UN counterterrorism institutions, ensuring that the UN bodies are opened up to civil society voices. Read more here.
Source: Just Security