Combating Illicit Financial Flows in the Western Balkans

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) has designed an online toolkit on illicit financial flows (IFFs) for the Western Balkans. The toolkit provides a concise, practical overview of the six regional countries’ responses to IFFs by tracking government measures; flagging issues previously identified by the GI-TOC and mutual evaluation reports; emphasizing the role that civil society can play to counter IFFs; and providing actionable policy recommendations.

There is limited understanding and awareness of IFFs in the Western Balkans among stakeholders, including government officials, civil society and the private sector. There is little data available on IFFs, with government information on the topic difficult to access. Mutual evaluation reports by FATF/MONEYVAL give a good overview of key vulnerabilities in each country in the region. However, they are technical, lengthy and not regularly updated.

Lack of technical knowledge and expertise in this area among civil society organizations means that IFFs often fall under their radar, leading to gaps in how the threat is monitored. This limits the impact civil society organizations can exert over policy development by holding governments accountable for implementation of policies and legislation, and raising awareness on the harmful impacts of IFFs on the state and society.

To help remedy these challenges, the new interactive toolkit provides an easy-to-access repository of practical information that civil society organizations can draw from to increase their knowledge, and enhance their role and involvement in the region in tackling IFFs.

The toolkit is one of the flagship activities within the project ‘Combating Illicit Financial Flows in the Western Balkans’, which is supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 12 February 2023 at 10:00, we will hold an online launch event that will gather government representatives, civil society organizations, media, academia and international organizations. If you are a researcher, journalist, scholar or practitioners working on this topic, this is an opportunity to learn more about the current state of play of IFFs in the Western Balkans, the risk they pose in each country and how to tackle them more effectively.