On 11-13 July 2023, the OSCE Secretariat's Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with the support of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, conducted a training-of-trainers course to further the skills of local financial investigators, judiciary and prosecution officials to apply analytical techniques in financial investigations as part of wider counter-terrorism efforts.
The course focused on building the capacities of local experts representing financial investigators, judiciary and prosecution to train their peers in using financial intelligence as a tool to detect networks of terrorists and their financiers. During the three-day course, a team of local trainers and international experts reviewed course material and exercise scenarios, including on topics such as the intelligence cycle, data and network analysis, and the grading of intelligence.
As part of his opening remarks, Koen De Smedt, Project Officer at TNTD's Action against Terrorism Unit, stated: "The gathering and sharing of financial intelligence should be at the core of counter-terrorism operations. Not only can it uncover new intelligence and evidence, it can also give each agency strategic focus, unveiling certain trends that can assist in prioritizing your efforts and better orienting your future operations."
The course forms part of a comprehensive training programme on countering the financing of terrorism funded by the United States. The objective of the programme, run jointly by the OSCE and UNODC, is to further build the operational framework of local financial investigators, judiciary and prosecutors to prevent terrorists from moving, using and raising funds for terrorist purposes, in line with international commitments and standards, in particular UN Security Council resolution 2462 (2019), Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and international human rights standards.
