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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:46 am
Time: 11:46 am
Results for terrorist financinc
1 results foundAuthor: Miklian, Jason Title: Illicit Trading in Nepal: Fueling South Asian Terrorism Summary: A tight-knit network of informal traders is exploiting a vacuum of law enforcement in southern Nepal to generate significant operating capital for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The traders employ the same money laundering techniques as others in Nepal did a decade before, as the legal loopholes, lack of infrastructure, and widespread corruption that created these opportunities were not addressed. Nepal and India continue to focus on individual criminals in their attempts to shut down the networks, rather than reforming the structural conditions allowing the networks to operate. As a result, the traders operate in an environment conducive for the creation of vast sums of informal wealth with few barriers to operation and at little risk. Short-Term Suggestions 1) Arrest the criminals without destroying the hawala system. Large scale raids are counterproductive, as most overseas workers require hawala to support their families. Reform can be achieved by integrating legitimate hawaldars into the formal banking sector, provided they comply with transparency and recordkeeping guidelines designed to decrease the likelihood that they are unknowingly laundering money. 2) Improve Indo-Nepal bilateral relations through border security. India and Nepal should jointly consider how border security policy can be more than a zero-sum game. Mutual cooperation on border security strategy benefits both bilateral relations and internal stability. Frameworks whereby either country could propose a joint operation on an ad hoc basis, keeping authority clearly under control of the host country, can build trust without encroaching upon sovereignty. Further, the link between corruption and national security needs to be recognized and problematized. 3) International actors can contribute to Nepal's security at border points by providing logistical support, providing equipment and securing directed funding to modernize and bolster existing checkpoints. The United Nations should maximize Nepal's request for increased border security assistance. Countries hosting direct flights to/from Kathmandu should increase scrutiny of incoming passengers for illicit materials. Long-Term Suggestions 1) Roll back the growing culture of corruption. Nepal's culture of corruption is pervasive at the individual, local, regional, and national levels. Practical measures can reduce demand, but punitive approaches may backfire in a society where the judicial system is itself corrupt. Nepal has steadily deteriorated in both real and comparative terms regarding corruption indicators, but leadership-by-example can be a powerful attitudinal tool for change, and need not involve massive bureaucratic undertakings. 2) Comprehensive banking sector reform would include a trident of reforms to prevent graft, institutionalize checks and balances for day-to-day operations, and increase the availability of services in areas currently underrepresented. However, opening more bank branches catering to microcredit needs can be counterproductive. Indian efforts to push more money flows through the formal sector could also be adopted by other countries. 3) Create and enforce anti-corruption and pro-transparency laws. The challenge of prosecuting transgressors is immense, as suspects are put into the hands of a poorly-paid, corrupt judicial system that lacks legal precedent and impartiality for its most difficult cases. Solutions must also incorporate Nepal's youth population as stakeholders, emphasizing rule of law over militancy, informal trade and corruption. 4) International donors should continue to tie funding to the implementation of banking, money laundering and counter-terrorism measures that raise Nepal's laws and oversight to international standards. Although conditionalities are unpleasant, they have a proven track record in Nepal of forcing needed legislation on the agenda in Kathmandu. Details: Oslo: International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), 2009. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: PRIO South Asia Briefing Paper #3: Accessed January 28, 2015 at: http://file.prio.no/Publication_files/Prio/Illicit%20Trading%20in%20Nepal%20(South%20Asia%20Briefing%20Paper%203).pdf Year: 2009 Country: Nepal URL: http://file.prio.no/Publication_files/Prio/Illicit%20Trading%20in%20Nepal%20(South%20Asia%20Briefing%20Paper%203).pdf Shelf Number: 134446 Keywords: Black MarketsIllegal Trade (Nepal)Illicit TradePolitical CorruptionTerrorist Financinc |