OSCE and UNODC deliver training course in Uzbekistan on improving analytical tools and skills to effectively counter terrorist financing

A three-day training course aimed at further strengthening the capacity of Uzbekistan to counter terrorist financing was organized in Tashkent from 4 to 6 December 2019.

The training seminar was delivered to 19 Uzbek experts and practitioners from the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Academy of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Department on Combatting Economic Crimes at the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the country’s State Security Service.

The aim of the training course was to assist Uzbekistan in implementing international standards, in particular UN Security Council Resolutions, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering’s recommendations, and OSCE and UN commitments. The course emphasized the key role of inter-agency co-operation in disrupting the financing of terrorism.  Based on country- and region-specific scenarios, it included sessions on financial intelligence, introduction to financial analysis, and vulnerability and network analysis. More than half of the course consisted of practical work where participants learned and practiced how to apply a range of analytical techniques to realistic scenarios, including how to use financial investigations to better assess the threat posed by a terrorist group. 

“Today’s training is important because it has been developed specifically for countries of Central Asia based on the best international practice, provides a platform for interagency co-operation and strengthens the capacities of law enforcement agencies of Uzbekistan,” said John MacGregor, the OSCE Project Co-Ordinator in Uzbekistan.

The course was organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department, in co-operation with the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, and the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia. Three international experts from the UNODC, Belarus and the Russian Federation together with four local government officials delivered the training. Four experts from Uzbekistan were trained beforehand in a train-the-trainers course in Vienna organized by the OSCE and the UNODC.

The course was organized with the financial support of Germany as part of a comprehensive multiannual capacity-building programme to assist national efforts to counter the financing of terrorism in Central Asia.