OSCE, UNODC and ICITAP deliver training course on countering terrorist financing in Albania

A three-day training course aimed at further strengthening the capacity of Albania to counter terrorist financing was organized from 10 to 12 April 2019, in Tirana.

The training seminar was delivered to Albanian experts and practitioners from the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering (GDPML) (Albanian Financial Intelligence Unit), the State Intelligence Service (SHISH), the Albanian State Police, the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes. Thirty-four participants attended the course, of which seventeen trainees and five local trainers. Seven trainees and local trainers were women. The course was attended by thirteen female participants.

The course was organized jointly by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department, the OSCE Presence in Albania, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, and the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) and hosted by the Security Academy of Albania.

The training course was conducted to strengthen Albania’s compliance with international standards, in particular UN Security Council Resolutions, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF)’s standards and OSCE commitments. It was led by OSCE, UNODC and Western Union international experts together with five local government officials who were previously trained by the OSCE and the UNODC in a train-the-trainer setting.

The course emphasized the key role of inter-agency co-operation in disrupting terrorist financing.  Based on country- and region-specific scenarios, it included sessions on national, regional and transnational threats, sources of information, money flows. More than half of the course was devoted to practical work on exercises and actual case studies, highlighting specific instruments and techniques that play an important role in countering the financing of terrorism.

The course was organized as part of a comprehensive multiannual capacity-building programme to support national efforts to counter terrorist financing in in South-Eastern Europe.