The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact has published new Guidance on Ensuring Respect for Human Rights while Taking Measures to Counter the Financing of Terrorism. The document explains how countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures can be implemented in compliance with international standards, including human rights law, humanitarian law, and refugee law. Developed by United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) with input from civil society, including the Global NPO Coalition on FATF, the guidance offers practical recommendations for Member States, financial institutions, and other stakeholders.

Key areas covered in the guidance include criminalization, investigations, and prosecutions of terrorist financing; privacy and data-protection safeguards in financial intelligence; and terrorism-related targeted financial sanctions. It also addresses the impact of CFT measures on exclusively humanitarian activities, considers gender-specific impacts, and non-profit organizations. In addition, the guidance explores the nexus between terrorist financing and trafficking in persons and the roles and responsibilities of the private sector.

The guidance is a significant step toward ensuring that efforts to prevent and disrupt terrorist financing are cognizant of due process and international law obligations, and do not inadvertently restrict humanitarian action or civil society operations.

Read the full guidance here.