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1.2. International Regulations and Recommendations
A broad set of international conventions, standards, and bodies have been developed in order to combat IFFs. These include UN conventions which establish standards that all countries are expected to meet in order to avoid providing a safe haven for various kinds of IFFs. They also include treaties or organisations with narrower membership, but which set out more detailed measures; a number of these treaties allow for critical and useful peer reviews to ensure compliance.
Key International Parameters Regarding Illicit Financial Flows
1988 UN Convention against Illicit Trafic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
1999 UN International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism
2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime
2003 UN Convention against Corruption
FATF 40 Recommendations
In 2015, the General Assembly of the UN adopted the Addis Ababa Action Agenda which invites “appropriate international institutions and regional organisations to publish estimates of the volume and composition of illicit financial flows”.17 Similarly, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) call on countries to:
significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows by 2030; substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms; develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions; strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, also by supporting developing countries; enhance global macroeconomic stability; strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat organised crime.18 The UN also highlights the need for a methodology to estimate IFFs in order to comply with the data requirements stemming from the global SDG indicator framework.19
The EU and the OECD also play key roles in defining priorities that countries need to consider to better address the threats of money laundering and IFFs, as well as the need to strengthen mechanisms for the seizure and confiscation of assets, and the need to tackle tax evasion.20 Additional mechanisms such the Camden Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network (and similar networks) provide much-valued support and cross-border dialogue for police and prosecutors to better capture assets linked to organised crime and high-level corruption.21
