OSCE conducts training course on countering the financing of terrorism in Kosovo

On 16-18 April, the OSCE Secretariat's Transnational Threats Department, with the support of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and in partnership with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), conducted a training course in Pejë/Peć aimed at enhancing the capacities of local entities in countering the financing of terrorism.

The course drew upon training sessions conducted in Vienna earlier this year, where a cadre of local trainers, with the support of international experts, honed their skills in developing financial disruption strategies in counter-terrorism efforts.

During the course, participants delved into techniques such as functional and vulnerabilities analysis, and auditing, aimed at disrupting terrorist networks by examining their “business model”. By applying these techniques to hypothetical local scenarios, inter-agency teams designed effective financial disruption strategies.

Prior to the training course, the local trainers presented tangible impacts of the training programme on countering the financing of terrorism to their senior management. During this briefing, Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo highlighted the importance of inter-agency co-operation: “The team approach of everyone involved is really what made a difference with this programme.” He also stressed that it is essential to embed the training material into relevant specialist educational programmes.

The comprehensive training programme on countering the financing of terrorism is funded by the United States. The objective of the programme is to further build the capacities of local bodies to prevent the moving, using, storing and raising of 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.