Director-General/Executive Director
Mr. Kumar,
Ms. Clerc,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I’m delighted to welcome you to UNODC headquarters for this Forum’s first in-person meeting since 2020.
Over the past six years, UNODC has intensified its cooperation with FATF, yielding good results. I look forward to deepening our partnership.
Our mandates are complementary.
UNODC is the guardian of the key treaties that provide the international legal basis for combating money laundering under the FATF Standards.
We contribute to all the FATF working groups and special initiatives, such as the FATF Strategic Review and Stocktake.
This has resulted in practical outcomes such as guidance on terrorism financing risk, beneficial ownership, crime that affects the environment, and money value transfer services.
Our work together is essential because financial crime undermines every aspect of sustainable development.
Money laundering and the financing of terrorism, as well as their predicate offenses, are engines for instability and conflict.
They erode financial inclusion and trust in institutions, and increase poverty and inequality.
And today the stakes are higher than ever.
Because progress toward the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals has been derailed by a toxic mix of conflicts, economic crisis, and environmental and health emergencies.
So we must take urgent action now to get the SDGs back on track – including by tackling financial crime.
This begins with partnerships.
The private sector, civil society and the international community need to work together to take the profit out of crime, and to ensure that vibrant, sound financial sectors are supporting livelihoods, innovation, growth and social protection.
While some progress has been made to combat money laundering and corruption, particularly at the policy level, we must step up our efforts.
Because there is much more work to be done, especially to ensure that countries of all income levels have the capacity to fully implement robust anti-money laundering frameworks.
According to UNCTAD, illicit financial flows out of Africa from 2013 to 2015 nearly equaled the combined annual totals of development aid and foreign direct investment on the continent – averaging some 102 billion dollars per year.
This is money that could have been used to build schools, roads and hospitals; to develop agriculture and business; and to create jobs and opportunities, including for women, youth and vulnerable people.
UNODC is currently assisting more than 80 Member States to strengthen their frameworks for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.
We strive to ensure that governments have the capacity to regulate and guide stable financial sectors and implement national strategies that include the private sector as a vital partner.
The findings of FATF mutual evaluations inform our technical assistance in this area.
Our work is enhancing the capacities of countries across the FATF Global Network to prevent, detect and disrupt financial crime.
It directly contributes to pragmatic policies that can improve implementation globally.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Partnerships are key to solving problems.
There are many areas where engagement by the private sector amplifies the impact of UNODC’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
We will continue to hold joint consultations, particularly on capacity development, payments and high-risk sectors.
The financial institutions represented in this room implement extensive capacity-building programmes.
I would like to thank you for working with UNODC in partnership across this field.
Our cooperation on money laundering and illegal logging has already identified red flags for the private sector and led to financial investigations in South East Asia and Latin America.
Partnerships are also key to leveraging resources.
By teaming up, we can maximize our impact.
For example, UNODC and FATF recently worked together to help government experts address financial risks from the misuse of money value transfer service providers for terrorism financing purposes.
The outcomes of our collaboration are already supporting the UN’s work delivering humanitarian assistance in some of the world’s most complex crisis situations.
Partnerships also enable us to protect those most vulnerable to financial crime. Civil society organizations are crucial partners for many UN humanitarian missions.
They face enormous frontline risks of abuse by terrorist financing networks.
To support their vital work, UNODC helps countries to identify risks to humanitarian assistance providers.
And we will continue to support FATF’s work in this area, including by contributing to its forthcoming guidance related to non-profit organizations.
We must work together to understand and assess the risks posed by money laundering and terrorism financing.
Together we can create a global economic system based on financial integrity and give peace and sustainable development a fighting chance.
I encourage governments to use the UN’s governing bodies to highlight the importance of combating money laundering and terrorism financing to achieving sustainable development.
Like the FATF Recommendations, UN resolutions are powerful tools for Member States to accelerate action and reform.
Dear colleagues,
You are our essential partners in combatting money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
I thank you for your commitment, and I wish you a productive meeting.