Limassol hosted a United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism meeting focused on choking off the money that sustains terrorist networks. Lawmakers and experts warned that financing methods are evolving faster than many national systems and pressed for laws and institutions that keep pace without undermining civil liberties.
How terrorists move money today
Speakers described a funding landscape that now stretches across virtual assets, online crowdfunding platforms, informal transfer systems and the dark web. Networks are also exploiting human trafficking and smuggling routes, and using trade-based money laundering to disguise transactions.
Addressing the conference, Cyprus MP Rita Superman, who chairs the Policy Dialogue of the UN Coordination Mechanism for Parliamentary Assemblies on Counter-Terrorism and serves as PAM rapporteur on counter-terrorism, said parliaments must update strategies and align them with regional and international instruments. She called for better harmonisation across investigators, prosecutors, financial intelligence units and police, plus stronger risk assessments, tighter oversight of vulnerable sectors and sharper capacity to track new technologies and online fundraising.
UNOCT’s message on standards and rights
Delivering remarks on behalf of UNOCT, Guadalupe Megre stressed that the response must be comprehensive, coordinated and accountable. She underlined the need to align national frameworks with Financial Action Task Force recommendations, including criminalisation provisions, targeted financial sanctions and safeguards for the non-profit sector. MPs, she added, are pivotal in ensuring domestic laws meet international obligations while protecting individual rights and civil society.
Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean Secretary General Sergio Piazzi said the UN coordination mechanism has matured into a stable platform for exchange, tracking trends across regions. With artificial intelligence and other technologies reshaping the threat, this year’s focus turns to the financing of operations and to harmonising national legislation with international resolutions and guiding principles.
Cyprus perspective
On behalf of Cyprus’s PAM delegation, MP Andreas Pasiourtides called combating terrorist finance a priority for all societies, arguing that knowledge sharing and joint work remain the strongest defences. Qatar Advisory Council Vice President Abdulla Nasser Al Subaey addressed participants by video, noting Doha’s co-financing of UNOCT initiatives.
The eighth meeting of UNOCT’s Coordinating Mechanism for Parliamentary Assemblies convenes on Wednesday, continuing efforts to align national laws with global standards, strengthen cross-border cooperation and share best practices that protect both security and fundamental freedoms.