Barriers to Cross-Border Nonprofit Operations and The Role of the Financial Action Task Force
Nonprofit organizations – humanitarian, peacebuilding, grantmaking, human rights and more – struggle against daunting obstacles in conflict zones where need is great and risk is high. Increasingly their work is undermined by counterterror bureaucracies that impose unnecessary restrictions on operations. Some restrictive laws are deliberate attempts to suppress political opposition and others are excessive restrictions that do not take into account the ways in which the work of nonprofits could
The Financial Action Task Force and Human Rights
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental body that sets anti-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering standards that it uses to assess the adequacy of laws and regulations in nearly every country in the world. Since 9/11 it has increased its focus on regulation of financial services and charities. A PDF of this Factsheet is Available Here. A 2012 report by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute showed that the FATF’s
Need to Update Treasury’s Terrorist Listing and Delisting Procedures
The U.S. terrorist listing process is designed to cut off funding to terrorists by freezing their funds and banning financial transactions with them. The President designates terrorist groups by Executive Order and authorizes the Treasury Department to list others that support them. A lack of clear standards, transparency and oversight of the list has raised serious concerns over the due process rights of those listed and the accuracy of the list itself. Click
Examples: Impacts of the Material Support Prohibition on Peacebuilding
For many years, U.S. organizations have paved the way for peace by helping to bring fighting factions together and providing alternatives to violence as a means of redressing grievances. Unfortunately, the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) upheld the law defining prohibited “material support” of terrorism to include conflict prevention and resolution activities aimed at getting terrorist groups to lay down their arms. Without
Peacbuilding Fact Sheet
“It is no longer enough to just provide peacekeepers; that must be accompanied by effective mediation, peacemaking and peacebuilding.” -U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton before the United Nations on Sept. 23, 2010. A printable PDF version of the peacebuilding Fact Sheet (October 2010) is available here. What is peacebuilding? Peacebuilding includes efforts related to preventing outbreaks of violence, transforming armed conflicts, finding peaceful ways to
The Impact of Counterterrorism Measures on Charities and Donors After 9/11
There is increasing evidence of the negative impact on all charities of the counter-terrorism measures introduced since 2001.[i] Here are examples from around the world: A printable PDF version of the fact sheet is available here. This fact sheet provides examples of impacts in the following areas: Children Health Peacebuilding Humanitarian Aid Charitable Giving Islamic charities Banking CHILDREN Kenya: The Kibera Community Self Help Programme (Kicoshep) in