The Global NPO Coalition hosted a webinar on October 1st, focusing on the misuse of FATF recommendations by authoritarian governments to target NPOs, journalists, activists, political opposition figures and others.

Stephen Reimer, Associate Fellow at RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security (CFS), and Arzu Abbasova, Research Analyst at CFS, presented findings from their recently-published report: Weaponisation of the FATF Standards: A Guide for Global Civil Society and the accompanying policy brief, Suppression Laundering: Using FATF as a Fig Leaf to Target Civil Society.Typologies of abuse that the report outlines include: 

1. Intelligence fishing and scraping
2. Strategic bank account freezing
3. Harassment and prosecution of organisations
4. Politically motivated (pre-trial) detention
5. Lawfare for transnational repression

The report lays out resilience options and potential advocacy strategies for civil society faced with such abuse. The session, moderated by Miguel de la Vega from UniDOSC Mexico, engaged a diverse audience of civil society representatives, emphasizing the need for ongoing dialogue about these critical issues.

A recording of the presentation, but not the Q&A, is available.