The Ministry of Home Affairs will be organising the Third Ministerial ‘No Money for Terror’ Conference next week where participants from around 75 countries are expected to attend.

‘No Money for Terror’ Conference

• The conference that was first held In Paris in 2018, followed by Melbourne in 2019.
• It will be held in Delhi after gap of two years due to the travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives of the event

• India’s efforts: The event conveys India’s determination in its fight against terrorism as well as its support systems for achieving success against it.
• Global cooperation: It also intends to include discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all facets of terrorism financing.
• Compliance mechanism: The involvement of a compliant State often exacerbates terrorism, especially its financing.

What is Terror Financing?

• Terrorist financing encompasses the means and methods used by terrorist organizations to finance their activities.
• This money can come from legitimate sources, for example from profits from businesses and charitable organizations.
• But terrorist groups can also get their financing from illegal activities such as trafficking in weapons, drugs or people, or kidnapping for ransom.
• Nations like Pakistan has stated policy of supporting cross-border terrorism in India through global fundings.

Why need consensus over terror-finance prevention?

• Globally, countries have been affected by terrorism and militancy for several years and the pattern of violence differs in most theatres.
• It is largely impacted by tumultuous geo-political environment, coupled with prolonged armed sectarian conflicts.
• Such conflicts often lead to poor governance, political instability, economic deprivation and large ungoverned spaces.

Other mechanisms to curb terror financing: FATF

• FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
• It makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.

What hinders the global consensus?

• No definition of terrorism: There is no universal agreement over what constitutes terrorism. This weakens efforts to formulate a concerted global response.
• Non-enforcement: Multilateral action suffers from inadequate compliance and enforcement of existing instruments.
• No global watchdog: Counter-terrorism regime lacks a central global body dedicated to terrorist prevention and response.

Way forward

• No country if safe if terrorism persists anywhere across the world.
• The world must resolve to make the international financial system entirely hostile to terrorist financing.
• Concerted efforts and a comprehensive approach should be adopted to counter terrorism under the UN auspices on a firm international legal basis.

(Click) FREE1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

Attend Now