GIABA Holds Consultative Meeting On Gender, Youth To Curb Cross Border Crime

The Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (GIABA) will between August 28 to 30, 2017 hold a regional consultative meeting on the dimensions that promote cross border financial crimes among gender and youth groups. The event is slated for the M-Plaza Hotel in Accra, Ghana.

Participants for the three day event are from ECOWAS Member States, Civil Society, Gender and Justice Outfits, Development Partners, Representatives of the Gender Development Centre of ECOWAS (EDGC) et al.

Hence a statement issued by the GIABA Secretariat on the event noted that the workshop was necessary because in West Africa, money laundering has become more pronounced over the past 20 years or so largely due to corruption in public institution and as such terrorism financiers, drug dealers, illegal arms traffickers, human smugglers and traffickers, and others who operate in the shadow economy have used money laundering as a means of turning their illegitimate proceeds into legitimate incomes and asset.

Hence the establishment of the GIABA in 2000 by the Conference of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government represented a landmark institutional response to the menace of money laundering and terrorism financing in West Africa.

GIABA is organizing this workshop in conjunction with the EDGC.

“In view of the geo-political disposition of the West African region, crime has become increasingly cross-border in scope, and financial crime in particular has become more complex due to rapid advances in technology and the globalization of the financial services industry”, the statement indicated.

In that vein GIABA is calling for a concerted approach to deal with the issue, “The cross-border nature of financial crimes in West Africa poses very serious challenges to policy makers and operators, the private sector operators, civil society organisations and development partners, and this needs to be addressed in a very comprehensive and a well - coordinated manner”.

According to GIABA the situation has become more alarming due to the increasing involvement of women and young people within the sub - region in the phenomenon of money laundering and other financial crimes in West Africa. “The increasing involvement of women and young people, both as active participants and facilitators and also as victims. The gender and youth dimensions of cross-border crimes pose serious challenges to the development of African countries that need to be adequately addressed”.

Objectives of the consultative meeting
The overall objective of the Regional Forum as outlined by GIABA is to bring together key stakeholders in ECOWAS Member States to share knowledge, experiences and best practices with a view to defining a comprehensive framework to mainstream gender and youth dimensions into the fight against financial crimes and related issues in the ECOWAS region.

Facilitate the sharing of knowledge, experiences and good practices on the mainstreaming of gender and youth issues in policies, strategies and programmes aimed at countering financial crimes and its related issues as well as build consensus on the way forward in defining the key strategic and operational gender and youth-related issues and mechanisms that are relevant to the fight against financial crimes and their related issues in the ECOWAS region.

It will also seek to adopt a gender and youth component regional plan of action on the fight against money laundering and terrorist in West Africa and establish the framework for a sustainable regional partnership on gender, youth and the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in West Africa.

Other Tenets That The Meeting Seeks
Methodology
The regional forum will consist principally of plenary sessions and syndicate group discussions. The plenary sessions will be characterized by presentations on topical issues related to financial crimes and related issues, with particular emphasis on money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as the gender and youth dimensions of these phenomena.

Syndicate group discussions will make for more detailed deliberations on the issues raised in the presentation and to make recommendations that will feed into the conclusions and products of the workshop.

Presentations will be based on topical issues that are relevant to the theme of the workshop, including, but not limited to the following:

The plenary and syndicate group work sessions will culminate in the preliminary elaboration of a gender and youth component plan of action on the fight against transnational/cross-border financial crimes in West Africa, the statement concluded.