Overview
Laws and powers underpinned by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) are being systematically misused by governments worldwide to freeze opponents’ bank accounts, gather sensitive banking information on non-profits and keep activists in lengthy pre-trial detention on trumped up charges of money laundering or terrorism financing.
The most common targets are watchdog organisations, journalists, opposition activists and even independent businesses unwilling to bend to the will of authorities.
The FATF is the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). Its standards ensure a coordinated global response to organised crime, corruption and the threats posed by terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Yet, RUSI research shows how the standards are used to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the suppression of dissidents.
Join us at this virtual launch event, where Stephen Reimer, Associate Fellow at RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security, will present the findings from his two recently published RUSI reports on authoritarian abuses of the FATF standards.
Find out more about this project
Joining Instructions
You will receive a personal Zoom link when you register to attend this event. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Attribution: Presentation on the record, Q&A off the record.
Project sponsor
National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 2,000 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 100 countries.
