OSCE and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime train-the-trainer course enhances North Macedonia’s capacities to counter terrorist financing

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized a train-the-trainer course in Vienna from 11 to 13 October 2021, as part of a multiannual training programme focused on strengthening North Macedonia’s capacities in countering terrorist financing.

Eight national trainers (four male, four female) from law enforcement and customs agencies, the Ministry of Defence, and the public prosecutor’s and financial intelligence office took part in the course, which focused on how the analysis of financial information can support counter-terrorism investigations and highlighted a range of analytical techniques.

Together with the lead trainers, the national experts co-produced scenario-based exercises to further localize and adapt an OSCE and UNODC training course to the needs of North Macedonia. The trainers also learned how to facilitate presentations and discussions with representatives from multiple agencies.

As part of a multi-year training programme delivered by the OSCE and UNODC, the experts taking part in the train-the-trainer course, jointly with the lead trainers, will go on to deliver this course to other experts from state authorities of North Macedonia involved in countering terrorist financing.

The training programme aims to increase the country’s capacity to detect and combat terrorist financing and strengthen compliance with international standards in this area. These international standards are embedded in the United Nations Security Council Resolutions, United Nations norms, OSCE commitments that promote human rights-based approaches in countering terrorist financing, as well as the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) and interpretive notes. 

The course was organized with the financial support of the United States.