The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice organised a three-day training on “Effective Application of Targeted Financial Sanctions”, designed for the staff of the International Public Law Department of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.
The 2019 Law on "Facilitating the Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing” established the State Commission for Implementation of the Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), for which the International Public Law Department acts as its Secretariat. In this capacity, the Department is the main Georgian stakeholder for the implementation of UNSC Resolutions for the prevention, detection, and suppression of the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2020, in its 5th Round Evaluation Report for Georgia, MONEYVAL highlighted Georgian positive legislative steps and called for further efforts for the timely implementation of targeted financial sanctions, and of the procedures to update the list of designated persons, and to suggest designations to the UNSC.
In continuing the Project supports to Georgian authorities in implementing MONEYYVAL’s recommendations, and at the request of the Secretariat, the training of 3-5 October 2022 on "Effective Application of Targeted Financial Sanctions" aimed at strengthening the capacities of the Secretariat’s staff on the practical enforcement of UNSC sanctions at national level. The training also worked to equip participants with the narrative to present their work when seeking information from third parties, including the competent authorities and the private sector, also key stakeholders for the effective enforcement of UNSCR sanctions.
Meeting participants discussed the objectives and requirements of the relevant UNSC Resolutions (1267/1989, 1988, and 1718 and 1730) on imposing financial sanctions, arms embargo, assets freeze, and travel ban individuals; as well as the current sanctions regime and their role in ensuring international peace and security. Through detailed analysis, the participating public officials also identified the relevant regulations under the Georgian AML law for each of the abovementioned resolution.
A full day of the training was devoted to learning about different national practices in complying with the requirements of targeted financial sanctions. Such a detailed analysis, led by the CoE international expert, exposed participants to the importance of efficient domestic cooperation and information sharing, as well as to the role of the competent national agencies, and the private sector.
This capacity-building activity contributed to the efforts by Georgian authorities’ in implementing MONEYVAL recommendations on improving the practice of applying targeted financial sanctions in relation to persons linked to terrorism and terrorist financing.
The activity was organised in the framework of the project “Enhancing the Systems of Prevention and Combating Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Georgia”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II.
