YouSaid · the spoken record

Lezhnev

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16
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2019-12-06
most recent
2019-12-06
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “Similarly, the Council should engage the Governments of destination countries on conflict resources. For example, the United Arab Emirates, with respect to conflict gold, can do more as it pertains to various reforms related to transparency. Those steps would reinforce the calls for transparency and bring them to the attention of the highest levels of Government. That would be an important conflict- prevention tool, informing the Heads of State that there are key reasonable steps that they can take and that they can do more to prevent a much wider crisis with disastrous human impacts. I thank you again, Ambassador Norman-Chalet, for this opportunity to brief the Council.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  2. “For example, the IMF is urging the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to publish beneficial ownership information of key companies and improve their anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism regimes. UNOCA can meet regularly with EITI multi-stakeholder groups throughout the region, as well as IMF teams and civil society coalitions, to find out what transparency reforms are their priorities. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, not pushing but just referencing, could then raise those issues when speaking to Heads of State from the region. We believe that can be quite effective. I would argue that the Security Council should include reporting on financial transparency in the mandates of the mission.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  3. “In that vein, I would recommend that the Council empower the Panels of Experts and other expert groups with the mandate to investigate the networks that facilitate the spoilers and by supporting them with an additional expert on regional facilitators and enhancing their mandates to investigate the networks. My last recommendation is to work with key partners to help Governments to enact transparency reforms. The United Nations cannot force Governments to root out corruption, nor should it. However, key international partners, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and civil society coalitions, work with Governments on transparency reforms and, in my view, the United Nations should work closely with them.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  4. “However, too often, they are enacted against individuals or those persons who are least affected by sanctions because they do not travel or have bank accounts abroad, such as many rebel leaders. To be effective, based on our experience and research, sanctions should target the networks that spoil peace processes. Rebel leaders who break peace accords have companies, as do traffickers, facilitators and family members who collaborate with them, each profiting from the spoils of war. Importantly, those players are much more likely to have bank accounts abroad and conduct business there, and they would therefore be more greatly impacted by sanctions. The Council and others use the network sanctions approach very effectively with regard to North Korea and Iran and should do so similarly in Central Africa.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  5. “The Council should make supporting regional anti-money- laundering efforts part of UNOCA's mandate in order to stem the flows ofillicit finance and conflict finance. Specifically, I would recommend the Special Representative of the Secretary-General coordinate with GABAC and key FIUs in the region and raise related issues in his high-level dialogues with Governments in the region. UNOCA should also work with GABAC, the FATF and the World Bank to ensure that mutual evaluations and risk assessments are conducted in a timely, effective and non-political manner. Thirdly, I would like to highlight sanctions issues. Targeted sanctions are a very important financial tool for the Council to pressure spoilers to a peace process.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  6. “The regional FATF bodies are potentially very important actors in countering conflict financing and related corruption because they conduct mutual evaluations of countries' anti-money- laundering/countering the financing of terrorism regimes and their implementation. They also work to strengthen the national financial intelligence units (FIUs) on these issues. The Task Force against Money- Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC) is the Central African FATF-style regional body, but it and the F1Us in the region need significant support and engagement to be effective. The Security Council can play a role here, building on resolution 2462 (2019), adopted in March, which recognizes the essential role of the FATF.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  7. “Specifically, I would advise the Council to work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and convene key gold traders, refiners and banks to highlight the need for better implementation of the red flags in the 2015 FATF typology report on gold, money-laundering and terrorist financing risks. The FATF made excellent recommendations that have not been properly implemented. Secondly, I would recommend engaging anti-money-Iaundering bodies and financial authorities. The FATF and regional FATF bodies can play critical roles in combating conflict finance, and the Council and UNOCA should engage them as part of their conflict-prevention efforts.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  8. “The Council could convene a session with the Group on sanctions implementation and anti-money-laundering/combating the financing of terrorism issues and perhaps set up an ongoing working group to follow up on such issues. UNOCA could also meet regularly with banks in the region to follow up on sanctions implementation issues, including those raised by the Panels of Experts. Similarly, I would argue that the Council should engage the global gold sector on the issue of conflict gold, since it is a major source of financing identified by the various groups of experts. The Council played a constructive role in helping to address the blood diamonds trade, and could do the same with regard to conflict gold.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  9. “Banks and other financial institutions therefore play a critical role in enforcing sanctions and enacting anti-money-laundering measures. Multinational correspondent banks are particularly important because they act as clearing agents for wire transfers abroad and can take a range of actions to combat money-laundering and conflict financing. The Security Council and UNOCA should proactively engage banks and other financial institutions on sanctions implementation and other anti-money- laundering steps. The Wolfsberg Group, an association of 13 global banks that aims to develop frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks, may be a good starting point.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  10. “They are demanding that the Governments enact transparency and anti-corruption measures, from holding officials who have stolen funds accountable for their actions to requiring State-owned companies to undergo independent audits. The old models of off-budget accounts and secret State-owned companies that dispersed patronage are not appropriate to the youth generation. I would like to say a few words about solutions, for which I offer four recommendations. First, I would propose engaging the banking and gold sectors. Contrary to belief, illicit spoilers ofpeace processes do not mainly hold their money in cash. They have bank accounts and use financial interests in order to pay business partners and spend the money abroad.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  11. “Every country in Central Africa ranks in the bottom third of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, and a majority of countries in the region are in the lowest 20 per cent. Such corruption is starting to be exposed by various regional reports but, in order to protect the illicit interests, regimes often entrench themselves and repress populations. The best way to prevent these countries from falling into instability is to assist them to reform. The youth and others want to see real reforms. From the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon, young people and civil society are tired of corruption and of seeing their limited natural resources diminished without any benefit to them.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  12. “Many presidents in the region have been in power longer than the average age of the population, some for up to 40 years. Meanwhile, the median age is, for example, 18 years in Cameroon and 22 years in Gabon. Citizens in Central Africa are growing impatient with non-democratic regimes. The youth populations are increasingly vocal about the need for change and reform, as we have seen throughout the region. That strong dichotomy is creating serious stability risks, as the Special Representative of the Secretary- General highlighted. Most countries in the region are at the top of the Fragile States Index, and five countries in the region were highlighted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum last week to be in the highest risk category for mass killings. Arguably, the greatest factor in preventing the reform processes is money.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  13. “For example, my organization reported last year that conflict gold from the Democratic Republic of the Congo might well be reaching Western consumers through an international corporate network coordinated by a Belgian tycoon with refineries in Uganda, Dubai and Belgium. Together, these rogue actors make up criminal networks, whose presence is growing in Central Africa. Facilitators such as Dan Gertler, Aziz Nassour and others have made hundreds of millions of dollars from corrupt deals and continue to operate in the region, many with impunity. Unless there are consequences against such facilitators, they will continue to fund armed groups and perpetuate instability. The second challenge that I wanted to highlight is preventing mass violence through transparency reforms.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  14. “The Panels of Experts on the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo report extensively on how gold, diamonds and other minerals are critical resources for armed groups and on how they are smuggled across to Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda and Chad and on to the United Arab Emirates, among other countries. The key to combating such interests is to follow and target the middle-men, financial facilitators and corrupt officials who enable the trade in those conflict commodities. Such networks are often involved in arms trafficking in exchange for diamonds and gold.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  15. “Within that framework, I would highlight two main challenges and four recommendations. The first challenge relates to conflict resources and money-laundering. Rebel groups, criminal units within armies and their facilitators generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year from trading in conflict resources such as gold, diamonds, tantalum and other minerals. They are a key driver of conflict, as armed commanders and their backers want to continue making money, thereby breaking peace agreements through the continuation of such interests. The Council can have an impact on conflict commodities since they are traded regionally and internationally.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source

  16. “Mr. Lezhnev: I thank you, Madam President, for the opportunity to brief the Security Council today. I would like to focus my remarks on what the Council and the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) can concretely do to help transform and prevent violent conflict in this often- forgotten region. Above all, I believe that the Council and UNOCA should strategically focus on the financial aspect of crises in the region. I would argue that this would be most effectively done through enhanced engagement with international partners on transparency reforms that can help to prevent conflict, as well as with the private sector and anti-money-laundering bodies, and by refocusing sanctions to target networks of spoilers to peace processes. These steps would help to give the region a much better chance of achieving peace.”

    2019-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8679 (2019) · source