OSCE and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime training course increases North Macedonia’s capacities in combatting terrorism financing

How to undertake financial investigations to better assess terrorist threats was in focus during a three-day training course for experts from North Macedonia, which concluded on 3 November 2021. The course was organized by the OSCE and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of a multi-year training programme for North Macedonia on countering the financing of terrorism.

Seventeen experts from law enforcement, the financial intelligence office, the public prosecutor’s office, the intelligence agency, customs and the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Interior learned about techniques and methods to assist in the successful conduct of counter-terrorism investigations. They also practiced how to apply these techniques to realistic and localized scenarios.

A cohort of national trainers, supported by lead experts, delivered the course. The trainers were prepared through an OSCE/UNODC train-the-trainer course held in October in Vienna where participants co-produced scenarios tailored to the North Macedonia context.

The training course is part of a multi-year progressive training programme for North Macedonia on countering terrorist financing (CFT), jointly implemented by the OSCE and UNODC, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Skopje. The programme aims to build up North Macedonia’s CFT framework and increase the country’s capacity to detect and combat terrorist financing and strengthen compliance with international commitments and standards in this area. 

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