An informal Security Council meeting heard Thursday that many countries are failing to take action to stop the financing of terrorists and aren’t responding to the real threats their nations face. John Carlson of the Financial Action Task Force, which sets standards and promotes implementation of measures to combat terrorist financing, said its assessment shows that “while many countries have basic laws in place, they’re not using them effectively as yet.”“More than half of the countries, for example, are not taking effective action to prosecute terrorist financing or on (imposing) targeted financial sanctions,” he said. Carlson said the Financial Action Task Force is “moving swiftly to ensure that virtual assets and cryptocurrencies and their service providers are properly regulated” under its standards. Remy Heitz, the public prosecutor of Paris who is charged with investigating terrorist acts, described how financial data like loans and plane tickets can not only identify individuals but lead to terrorist acts that are still in preparation. “The threat remains over the long-term,” he stressed, “and we must use every tool available in order to strengthen our response — and this begins with mobilizing our action against financing terrorism.”

Source: National Post February 01, 2019 00:56 UTC