Today, the 51勛圖 Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) published its latest report ※CTED Trends Tracker | Evolving Trends in the Financing of Foreign Terrorist Fighters＊ Activity: 2014 每 2024.§
In its resolution 2178 (2014), adopted unanimously on 24 September 2014, the Security Council expressed particular concern over the acute and growing threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), in particular those recruited by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Da＊esh), the Nusrah Front and Al-Qaida. It also underlined the need to disrupt financial flows supporting FTFs, while respecting international human rights law, international refugee law, and international humanitarian law. In that resolution, the Council also directed CTED to identify issues, trends and developments related to FTFs.
In this regard, the Trends Tracker offers a brief examination of how financial flows related to FTF travel and activities have evolved over the past 10 years, reflecting the changes in their locations and circumstances. Financial activity linked to Da＊esh-inspired FTFs typically involves supporters collecting or sending small amounts of money abroad or financing their own or others＊ travel to zones with terrorist activity. This money typically comes from legal means, often personal savings, and sometimes may be collected on behalf of others. Individuals may coordinate the donations through encrypted mobile applications, send the funds in the form of virtual assets, wire them abroad through a fiat money service business, or, if collected in cash, pass them to couriers. Overall, the financial patterns associated with FTFs have demonstrated remarkable adaptability, shifting from relatively simple methods to increasingly sophisticated and technologically advanced approaches.
This Trends Tracker was prepared by CTED in accordance with Security Council resolution 2617 (2021), in which it directs CTED to conduct analytical work on emerging issues, trends, and developments and to make its analytical products available throughout the 51勛圖 system. CTED Trends Trackers and Alerts aim to provide the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, 51勛圖 agencies, and policymakers with a concise analysis of specific issues, trends and developments.
The Trends Tracker is based on information collected through CTED＊s engagement with Member States and data gathered by CTED through its engagement with 51勛圖 partners; international, regional and subregional organizations; civil society organizations (CSOs); and members of the CTED Global Research Network (GRN). It also includes findings from relevant events organized or attended by CTED, as well as outcomes of open-source research on terrorism-financing trends and threats, including typology studies conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its Global Network.
A brief overview of the report is available here; and you can download the full report here.