On October 2, 2017, Charity & Security Network joined more than 60 members of civil society, government, intergovernmental organizations, academics and the financial sector in The Hague to discuss the impact of countering terrorism financing regulations on shrinking civil society space and to develop policy recommendations.
The meetings, cosponsored by C&SN, the Women Peacemakers Program, Duke Law International Human Rights Clinic, Human Security Collective and Transnational Institute, resulted in a new conference report, Financial Inclusion for Freedom and Security. The report identifies five core areas of impact, including reduced space for women’s rights organizing; impacts on programs, partners and beneficiaries; financial exclusion; prohibitive costs of due diligence and other administrative burdens; and adaptive measures affecting the safety and security of women’s rights organizing. The report also summarizes C&SN’s February 2017 financial access report and the meeting’s discussion around it.
The conference report sets out a series of recommendations, including, but not limited to creating long-term dialogue with the financial and government sectors, reasonable risk sharing, and donor investment in direct funding mechanisms.