Pakistan to remain on FATF greylist

• Pakistan was retained on the greylist, or the list of countries under “increased monitoring”, by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council-designated terror groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e Mohammad, Al Qaeda and Taliban.
• In addition, the FATF handed down another six-point list of tasks, mainly on money laundering actions.

What is FATF?

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering https://www.aspireias.com/daily-news-analysis-current-affairs/Money-Laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
• The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society.
• As a policy-making body, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
• With more than 200 countries and jurisdictions committed to implementing them.
• The FATF has developed the FATF Recommendations, or FATF Standards, which ensure a co-ordinated global response to prevent organised crime, corruption and terrorism.
• They help authorities go after the money of criminals dealing in illegal drugs, human trafficking and other crimes. The FATF also works to stop funding for weapons of mass destruction.
• The FATF reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and continuously strengthens its standards to address new risks, such as the regulation of virtual assets, which have spread as cryptocurrencies gain popularity.
• The FATF monitors countries to ensure they implement the FATF Standards fully and effectively and holds countries to account that does not comply.

Functions of FATF

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was established in July 1989 by a Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Paris, initially to examine and develop measures to combat money laundering.
• In October 2001, the FATF expanded its mandate to incorporate efforts to combat terrorist financing, in addition to money laundering.
• In April 2012, it added efforts to counter the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
• Since its inception, the FATF has operated under a fixed lifespan, requiring a specific decision by its Ministers to continue. Three decades after its, creation, in April 2019, FATF Ministers adopted a new, open-ended mandate for the FATF.

Objectives of FATF

• The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• FATF monitors countries' progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations; reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures; and, promotes the adoption and implementation of the FATF Recommendations globally.

UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373

• The UNSC resolution 1267 was adopted unanimously on October 15, 1999.
• It is a consolidated list of people and entities that UN has determined as being associated with Al Qaeda or the Taliban, and laws which must be passed within each member nation to implement the sanctions.
• The UNSC Resolution 1373 was adopted on 28th September 2001.
• It declares international terrorism a threat to international peace and security and imposes binding obligations on all UN member states.