27 August 2024 – Algiers, Algeria
Trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants are highly lucrative, illicit businesses that treat people as commodities. The payments, expenses, and illegal revenues generated by these crimes are moved across borders by criminal networks in various ways, ranging from sophisticated to rudimentary methods. UNODC is working with Algerian authorities on preventing money laundering (ML) and financing of terrorism (FT), through a holistic approach to excel in methods of financial investigations and open-source intelligence.
Recently, with the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, two workshops on the subject were held in Algiers and were attended by more than 40 representatives from Algerian law enforcement agencies, prosecution and judicial authorities, and the Algerian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTRF).
This effort is within the project “strengthening capacities in North Africa to save and protect migrants by addressing the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons in the context of irregular migration flows.”
A member of the Algerian authorities told UNODC that “some institutions have adequate knowledge on proceeds arising from drug crimes and other predicate offenses yet are not fully aware of the proceeds arising from organized crimes such as trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. This leads to no reports of suspicious transactions being provided to conduct the necessary financial investigations.”
This is why participants learned during the workshops about money laundering fundamentals and regulations, means of laundering proceeds arising from trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants (TiP/SoM), and the crucial role of international cooperation in detecting the flow of illicit proceeds leading to the dismantling of organized criminal networks across the borders. A participant noted the importance of such subjects and added that “The CTRF role is imperative to conduct effective financial investigations. This is because of its capacity to obtain financial information available in countries abroad to have a full picture of the nature of financial flows across Algerian borders. Moreover, it shapes a better opportunity for law enforcement agencies to benefit from the informal tools of international cooperation used by CTRF to obtain financial information useful for authorities when conducting financial investigations.”
Across the two events, UNODC witnessed an active contribution from the participants in the hands-on exercises delivered by global and regional experts. During these sessions, representatives from different authorities were put together in breakout groups and were required to choose one of the methods used in laundering proceeds arising from trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants explained earlier and delivered presentations on means of combatting these methods. Participants added during the sessions that “This moment marked a rewarding opportunity for enhanced cooperation and coordination between different Algerian authorities on the national level and a chance for better exposure to the tools and means used by UNODC’s experts to dismantle organized criminal networks especially perpetrators of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants crimes and detecting the illicit proceeds arising from these crimes, which are mostly challenging to identify and detect.”
UNODC is committed to supporting Algerian authorities through technical assistance to address all forms of serious crime of a transnational nature committed by organized criminal groups including combatting trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, money laundering, and terrorism financing, and will remain a timely partner in the realization of Algerian aspirations in this regard.
