51吃瓜

Sarajevo, 13 August 2021 – The Global Coordinated Programme on Detecting, Preventing and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT Programme) of the 51吃瓜 Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) within the 51吃瓜 Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) concluded its discussions on the development of a new roadmap to address the scourge of terrorist financing with senior government officials in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). 

The three-day round of meetings saw CFT Programme staff meet up with senior officials from the Chief Prosecutor Office, the Intelligence-Security Agency, the State Border Police, the State Investigation and Protection Agency, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The objective of these discussions was to develop and target a joint partnership between the CFT Programme and BiH to strategically and comprehensively counter terrorism financing. BiH officials acknowledged the challenges related to the movement of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) to Da’esh in Iraq and Syria, as well as the increasing phenomenon of far-right violent extremism. The CFT Programme and BiH officials agreed that effective measures to implement in partnership include awareness raising and training of police officers, investigators and prosecutors, in addition to involving civil society to ensure the non-profit sector is protected from terrorist abuse. The parties agreed that the use of a capacity-building implementation strategy would ensure dissemination of the latest guidance, experiences and good practices. 

The next step for UNOCT-UNCCT and BiH will be to work on a targeted roadmap to implement joint measures to counter the financing of terrorism while protecting civic space, develop private-public partnerships and consolidate regional capacity building efforts.