60. Passas, above n 17, p. 31.
61. Financial Action Task Force, Trade Based Money Laundering (Paris, 2006), p. 4.
62. Passas, above n 17, p. 31.
63. Ibid.
64. Terrorism Research, “Categories of Terrorist Groups,” <http://www.terrorism-research.com/groups/categories.php>.
65. Vittori, above n 5, p. 7.
66. Terrorism Research, “State Sponsored Terrorism,” <http://www.terrorism-research.com/state/>.
67. Vittori, above n 5, p. 7.
68. Robert H. Deatherage, Terrorism Awareness (Turtle Press, Santa Fe, 2008), p. 31.
69. Vittori, above n 5, p. 8.
70. Daniel Byman, Deadly Connections: States That Sponsor Terrorism (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005), p. 187.
71. Vittori, above n 5, p. 8.
72. Loretta Napoleoni, Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars behind the Terror Networks (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2005), p. 65.
73. Vittori, above n 5, p. 8.
74. Financial Action Task Force, Financing of the Terrorist Organisation Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (Paris, 2015), p. 12.
75. Vittori, above n 5, p. 10.
76. Some countries such as Iran consider Hezbollah as a legitimate resistance movement fighting for the liberation of Israeli occupied territories. See Ophir Falk and Henry Morgenstern, Suicide Terror Understanding and Confronting the Threat (Wiley, New York, 2009), p. 233.
77. Matthew Levitt, “Hezbollah Finances: Funding the Party of God” in Jeanne K. Giraldo and Harold A. Trinkunas (eds) Terrorism Financing and State Responses: A Comparative Perspective (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2007), p. 134.
78. Vittori, above n 5, p. 114.
79. Ibid.
80. Audrey Kurth Cronin, “Behind the Curve: Globalization and International Terrorism” 2002–2003 27(3) International Security 30, p. 45.
81. Vittori, above n 5, p. 145.
82. R. F. J. Spaaij, Understanding Lone Wolf Terrorism: Global Patterns, Motivations and Prevention (Springer, Dordrecht, 2012), p. 15.
83. Vittori, above n 5, p. 115.
84. George Michael, Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance (Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville, 2012), p. 1.
85. Fox News and Associated Press, “Terrorism Eyed in Attack at German Airport That Killed 2 U.S. Airmen” (2011), <http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/02/shots-fired-bus-carrying-soldiers-germany/>.
86. Kurt Nimmo, “French Terror Attack: All the Hallmarks of an Intelligence Psy-op and False Flag” (March 21, 2012), <http://www.infowars.com/french-terror-attack-all-the-hallmarks-of-an-intelligence-psy-op-and-false-flag/>.
87. Spaaij, above n 82, p. 1.
History of Criminalization of Terrorist Financing
It is difficult to determine precisely when and how the idea developed that countering terrorist financing could play a central role in the fight against terrorism.1 Prior to the adoption of Terrorist Financing Convention, some Western states had adopted laws that deal with terrorist financing in a similar manner that the Terrorist Financing Convention does. For example, in the United States, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 prohibits “provision of material support or resources or conceals or disguises the nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources, knowing or intending that they are to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out” specified offenses regarded as terrorist activities.2
Internationally, the idea of expanding the scope of criminalization to include terrorist-related activities seems to be around in 1994 when the UN General Assembly encouraged State Members “to review urgently the scope of the existing international legal provisions on the prevention, repression and elimination of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, with the aim of ensuring that there is a comprehensive legal framework covering all aspects of the matter.”3 It appears that the idea of countering terrorist financing through the adoption of international measures originated in the G7 (now G8), which decided to take a leading role against terrorism. In 1995, its members declared that “we are determined as a group to continue to provide leadership on this issue to the international community, using bilateral and multilateral measures and agreements to counter terrorism,” and it seems that the first call for the adoption of measures to counter terrorist financing was officially issued at that meeting in Ottawa where it was agreed “to pursue measures aimed at depriving terrorists of their sources of finance.”4
Following the G8’s statement of its interest in depriving terrorism of funding, in December 1996, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 51/210, establishing an ad hoc committee to “address means of further developing a comprehensive legal framework of conventions dealing with international terrorism.”5 Using identical wording to that used in the G7/8 Agreement on 25 Measures for Combating Terrorism made at its meeting in Paris in July 1996, the General Assembly Resolution, also, called on all States to take steps to counteract terrorist financing by taking
steps to prevent and counteract, through appropriate domestic measures, the financing of terrorists and terrorist organizations, whether such financing is direct or indirect through organizations which also have or claim to have charitable, social or cultural goals or which are also engaged in unlawful activities such as illicit arms trafficking, drug dealing and racketeering.6
The Resolution additionally emphasized the prevention of
the exploitation of persons for purposes of funding terrorist activities, and in particular to consider, where appropriate, adopting regulatory measures to prevent and counteract movements of funds suspected to be intended for terrorist purposes without impeding in any way the freedom of legitimate capital movements and to intensify the exchange of information concerning international movements of such funds.7
In the autumn of 1998, a draft of a convention on the suppression of the financing of terrorism,8 a French initiative at a G8 summit,9 was proposed to the United Nations. At the request of the UN General Assembly,10 that draft was considered at a meeting of an ad hoc committee11 and then a Working Group of the Sixth Committee.12 After an evaluation and some amendments to the proposed convention (the content and origins of which will be discussed in the following chapters), the Sixth Committee recommended that the General Assembly adopt the proposed convention.13 On December 9, 1999, the Terrorist Financing Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly and regarded as a significant contribution to the fight against terrorism.14 The purpose of the Convention is set out in its preamble where it notes that “the financing of the terrorism is a matter of grave concern to the international community” and the international community is “convinced of the need to enhance international
