UN official calls for more efforts to counter financing of terrorism

UNITED NATIONS, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN coUNter-terrorism chief on Thursday warned of continued financial flows to the terrorists and urged more EFFORTS to tackle the problem.

Speaking to the Security CoUNcil, Vladimir Voronkov, UNder-secretary-general of the UN Office of CoUNter-terrorism, said "recent attacks aroUNd the world demonstrate that financial flows continue to reach terrorist groups from both illegal and legal means."

He urged the UN member states to make their national experts available to UN programs on coUNtering the financing of terrorism, "so that beneficiary coUNtries have an opportUNity to learn good practices in this area."

Voronkov also outlined key priorities of his office in coUNtering the financing of terrorism, including promoting intelligence sharing, sectoral risk assessments and public-private partnerships to ensure that financial regulation is "responsive, targeted, proportional and effective."

Meanwhile, he said "we must look at coUNtering the financing of terrorism as a comprehensive package comprising a variety of related topics," adding "systemwide awareness-raising, inter-agency coordination, judicial reviews and continuous commitment of human and technological resources are equally important."

In addition, he pledged to work more closely with the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organization that combats money laUNdering and terrorist financing.

Voronkov's speech came after the Security CoUNcil's adoption of Resolution 2462, which calls upon UN member states to prevent and coUNter the financing of terrorism, especially in its new forms.

The resolution is intended to update existing resolutions and adapt them to new forms of financing of terrorism and new challenges in this field.

While several resolutions have focused on coUNtering the financing of terrorism, Voronkov said Resolution 2462 "helps consolidate the various requirements into a single draft, and expands the focus to key emerging issues, including innovative terrorist financing typologies."

He welcomed the role that the resolution assigned to his office on identifying ways to suppress terrorist financing, and helping coUNtries develop the capacities to implement key priorities.