A portion of the charity money collected by NGOs is diverted to support the acts of terrorism, said US Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield in Dhaka Monday and called for a combined action to stall such diversion of the welfare funds.
William Brownfield, who looks after for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement affairs at the US Department of State, made the call while addressing the opening session of a three-day regional conference for prosecutors, titled 'Good Giving - Countering Terrorist Financing and Violent Extremism in the Charitable Community', at a hotel in Dhaka city.
"Charities and NGOs collect millions of dollars each year for benevolent causes across the world. But, unfortunately, a portion of this money, whether by design or through the exploitation of legitimate organizations, is diverted to support the acts of terrorism..…" he said.
He urged all governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to work together to plug such misdirected financing.
A vast majority of these organizations, Brownfield said, are created to help those in need and serve to promote socioeconomic development. But investigations have linked certain charities to the funding streams for violent extremist groups accused of conducting attacks like the 2008 Mumbai bombings.
"The fight against terrorism is truly a global endeavour," he said, highlighting the urgency of sharing and exchanging information among countries across the globe to stop the flow of finances to the terrors.
He also stressed the need for encouraging the good charities and NGOs for their socioeconomic development activities and also to give attention so that no money gets diverted unintentionally to terrorism acts.
"Domestic, inter-agency cooperation as well as international collaboration are critical if we are to succeed in denying terrorist organisations a safe haven in the charitable and NGO sector," said the functionary of the US government that has long been leading what is dubbed 'war on terror' in different parts of the world.
About 40 representatives from various governments, NGOs, and charity organizations from the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and host Bangladesh attended the programme.
Elizabeth Joyce of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) of the United Nations and president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute Farooq Sobhan also spoke at the opening session.
Contrary to common belief, Brownfield said, Osama Bin Laden did not have access to any significant amounts of personal wealth. Instead, al Qaeda was funded, to the tune of approximately US$30 million per year, by diversion of money from Islamic charities and the use of well-placed financial facilitators who gathered money from both witting and unwitting donors, primarily in the Gulf region.
He mentioned that several countries in South Asia are taking preventive measures to stem the flow of terrorist financing, including the consideration of charity and oversight laws.
The visiting Assistant Secretary of US hoped that the participants would work together to understand the risks and strengthen charitable regulation regimes so that all can feel confident that their charitable communities are not being abused.
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