Manama, Nov9(BNA) The countries participating at the Manama Meeting on Combating the Financing of Terrorism on Sunday issued the “Manama Declaration on Combating the Financing of Terrorism”.
“The Meeting was hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain as part of its role in the fight against terrorism in the region and was jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance at the level of senior officials, experts and more than thirty countries, in addition to broad participation from regional and international organizations including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission as well as the Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) which is located in the Kingdom of Bahrain and works to address the challenges associated with combating the financing of terrorist groups and activities in all its forms,” the Declaration said.
“The Meeting reached a set of Recommendations that goes in-line with the provisions of the International Law and the United Nations strategy concerning anti-terrorism law.
The Recommendations are as follows:
1. Further strengthen the international CFT regime by fully and effectively implementing the FATF Recommendations and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions to combat Terrorist Financing (TF) including by:
Actively investigating and prosecuting the financing of terrorist organisations and individual terrorists;
Robustly implementing targeted financial sanctions on individuals and entities pursuant to all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions;
Publicly designating terrorist financiers and facilitators;
Actively involving the private sector in CFT efforts;
Ensuring that money or value transfer services are licensed, monitored, and sanctioned for lack of compliance;
Prevent non-profit organisations and charitable collections from being abused by terrorist organisations to raise, move, or use funds, while not disrupting or discouraging legitimate charitable activities;
Implementing cash declaration/disclosure systems and maintaining the authority to confiscate funds related to TF;
Implementing appropriate preventive measures, including those related to customer due diligence, correspondent banking, and wire transfers;
Preventing and suppressing the financing of foreign terrorist fighters, including their travel and subsequent activities.
2. Participate fully in the global framework for combating terrorist financing, including by:
Joining the FATF global network and undergoing regular mutual-evaluations;
Joining the Egmont Group;
Introducing continuing professional development including the sharing of best practices for all those involved in the implementation of CFT;
Providing prompt and useful international co-operation, including mutual legal assistance to other countries seeking to detect and investigate terrorist financing activity;
Enhancing co-operation with the UN Counter Terrorism Committee.
3. Continue analytical efforts to assess and identify sources and techniques of TF, including through typology studies, and consider further how the FATF recommendations can be applied to effectively combat activities such as:
Raising funds for terrorist groups through the internet and social media;
Using electronic payment systems and virtual currencies by terrorist groups and individuals;
Using places of worship and education to raise funds for TF;
Self-generating funds for TF by operating in ungoverned spaces, including through exploiting natural resources, and the illicit production and trafficking of narcotics;
Financing terrorist groups under the guise of charitable contributions.
4. Work co-operatively with the Egmont Group, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Financial Action Task Force Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) such as the Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, the United Nations, and other states, to provide effective technical assistance to countries and jurisdictions to enable them to combat the financing of terrorism and enhance their domestic CFT regimes, in terms of fiscal, human and technical resources.
5. At the highest official levels, demonstrate support for and commitment to the effective domestic and global implementation of the CFT regime including considering the possibility of convening a Ministerial Meeting to promote the objectives of this declaration.
6. Support multilateral, regional and national initiatives that can contribute to strengthening the global CFT regime, including workshops, conferences and training seminars to develop CFT expertise in the MENA region and worldwide.
7. Welcome the work of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) which was established by an initiative of HM King Abdulla Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and calls on the UNCCT to continue and enhance its work on combatting the financing of terrorism. (MOFA).”
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BNA 2016 GMT 2014/11/09