Skip to main content

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

Description

The course was organized jointly by the OSCE Presence in Albania, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP).

Summary

A three-day training course aimed at further strengthening the capacity of Albania to counter terrorist financing was organised from 15 to 17 May 2019, in Tirana. Twenty-two participants (including five women) from the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering (GDPML) (Albanian Financial Intelligence Unit), the State Intelligence Service (SHISH), the Albanian State Police, the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes completed the course.

It was designed to strengthen Albania’s compliance with international standards, in particular UN Security Council Resolutions, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF)’s standards and OSCE commitments. It was led by OSCE and UNODC international experts together with five local government officials who were previously trained by the OSCE and the UNODC in a train-the-trainer setting.

The course emphasized the key role of inter-agency co-operation in disrupting terrorist financing.  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 was devoted to 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. 

The course was organized with the financial support of the OSCE Presence in Albania and the United States of America. This was the second course in the series of six courses that form part of a comprehensive multi-annual capacity-building programme to support national efforts to counter terrorist financing in South-Eastern Europe.