India To Raise Dark Web, Crypto Issues at ‘No Money for Terrorism’ Conference
India will raise major issues such as the lack of universal consensus on cybercrime laws; Weak control mechanisms of social media and their misuse by terrorist groups and extremists, the dark web and crypto-currency at the upcoming International Ministerial Conference ‘No Money for Terrorism’ this week, top government sources said.
Crowdfunding; the anonymity, isolation, and untraceable nature of terrorist financing; an effective multilateral and multi-stakeholder approach to identifying and mitigating threats from emerging terrorist financing mechanisms; The misuse of non-profit and private organizations as fronts for financing terrorist activities is among other critical issues to be raised at the two-day international conference scheduled for November 18-19.
An official of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), requesting anonymity, told ANI how important the conference attended by 75 countries is amid the changing environment where “terrorists and extremists have evolved into technologies like cryptocurrency and crowdfunding by customizing them to suit their needs”. .
“The dark web brings together professional hackers and those terrorists who want to collect or transfer funds. The anonymity, isolation, and often ambiguity of terrorist financing in various ways poses a great challenge. The world still lacks universal agreement on laws and norms regarding cybercrime,” said the official, pointing out that these issues will be presented to the international delegation that will participate in the conference.
“An effective international and multi-stakeholder approach can help identify and reduce the threats of emerging forms of terrorist financing. An effective legal framework can help ensure that Internet service providers and social networks work to monitor, control and correct them, said the official while explaining the points that will be presented at the conference.
Recent years have seen a combination of cryptocurrencies, the dark web, crowdfunding, and the absence of regulatory environments that support the financing of terrorists and terrorist groups (TEGs). They also abuse non-profit and non-governmental organizations as fronts to finance their activities.
In the conference, which will be opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at around 11:00 am, India will seek cooperation from all countries to face the challenges of combating the financing of terrorism.
This is the 3rd ‘No Terrorism Money’ Ministerial Conference, and India is hosting it for the first time.
This Conference aims to continue the discussions on combating terrorist financing held by the international community in the previous two Conferences in Paris (2018) and Melbourne (2019). It also aims to include discussions on the technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all aspects of terrorist financing. It is also trying to set the pace for other high-level talks with politicians, focused on combating terrorist financing.
India will reveal how more challenges are emerging in terms of inclusion and regulation of private companies and the extension of technical assistance to microfinance institutions, said one private source on the development.
India will also emphasize inter-state cooperation at international, national and regional levels that require coordinated responses from federal and national law enforcement agencies, the source said.
To close the gap between the private and public sector and to facilitate information sharing and better cooperation between different departments Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) were established, said the source, which will focus on “more communication” between all stakeholders.
The conference will further India’s efforts to build understanding and cooperation among countries in the fight against terrorist financing.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will conclude the event and convey India’s determination to fight terrorism and its support programs to achieve success against them.
Hosting this conference shows the importance given by the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the issue of international terrorism and its policy of zero tolerance for this evil and having discussions on this issue in the international community.
Around the world, countries have been plagued by terrorism and militancy for several years. The pattern of violence varies in many theaters but is largely due to the turbulent political environment, accompanied by armed class conflicts. Such conflicts often lead to bad governance, political instability, economic deprivation and large ungovernable territories. The involvement of the complaining State often increases terrorism, especially its financing.
India has faced many forms of terrorism and its financing for more than three decades, hence it understands the pain and trauma of similarly affected nations. To show solidarity with peace-loving nations and to help build a bridge for continued cooperation in the fight against terrorist financing, India hosted two global events in October – Interpol’s annual General Assembly in Delhi and a special UN Counter session. -Terrorist committee in Mumbai and Delhi. The upcoming NMFT Conference will continue our efforts to build understanding and cooperation among nations.
Discussions at the 3rd ‘No Terrorist Money’ Conference will focus on the global trend towards terrorism and terrorist financing, the use of formal and informal channels of terrorist financing, emerging technologies and terrorist financing and the need for international cooperation to address related challenges.
The Conference aims to bring together representatives of 75 countries and international organizations for extended discussions over two days.
The conference is being organized here by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the supervision of the MHA.
Although efforts to combat the financing of terrorism (CFT) have intensified since then
In the late 1980s, 9/11 was a turning point. A sense of urgency arose after 9/11, which influenced the direction of counter-terrorism policies at the global and national level. over
Over the past two decades, a number of challenges have emerged, with the evolving nature of terrorism.
An official expert dealing with issues related to terrorism told ANI, “There is a huge gap between the requirements of the standards proposed by the international efforts and the capabilities of the member states.”
“Many developing countries prioritize meeting their basic needs first. This leads to a lack of ‘political will’ to implement terrorism financing measures and a lack of institutional capacity in many developing countries to deal with such cases effectively. This has implications for the ways in which crimes are reported and investigated,” the legal expert responsible for and issues related to terrorism he told ANI.
Other factors that should be considered in the fight against terrorist financing are technological advances made in the last twenty years and the role played by private companies, said the official, adding that the nature of financial transactions has evolved over the years and financial institutions (both government and private) need to adapt to changing conditions.
“Not being able to do that creates loopholes and defects in the system that terrorist organizations can exploit,” said the official.
