A continental Workshop in Illicit Financial Flows from Africa

Over 40 participants representing customs administrations, think-tank, international organizations, and the private sector attended the conference on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) which took place at Africa Union headquarters on 24 May 2019 under the theme ‘’ How to prevent Illicit Financial Flows and recover stolen Assets to better serve the African continent. The conference is co-organized by the Freidrich Ebert Stiftung- AU Cooperation Office in Addis Ababa and the Africa Union Department of Economic Affairs, AU/DEA. The opening statement is delivered by his Excellencies Victor Harrison, Commissioner of the Africa Union Department of Economic Affairs, AU/DEA, and he outlined the need for comprehensive effort to curb IFFs in Africa.

The workshop convened practitioners and policy experts together to analyse the stock of the current state of play regarding Illicit Financial Flows agenda in Africa as well as progress made through global, regional, and country level initiatives. The workshops also act as a platform to articulate problems and propose solutions and explore opportunities for collaboration and common action. This one-day workshop covers four different session: AUC strategic development on IFFs, Resource Mobilization, Stolen Asset Recovery in Africa, The Role of International Cooperation in the fight against IFFs. Participants have reviewed the continental legislation on IFFs and stolen asset recovery procedures and discussed about legislative gaps that might jeopardize regional cooperation. At the end of the workshop participants agreed on the need for technical assistance support from developed countries in building the capacity of financial regulatory bodies and respective institutions in Africa and emphasized the need to harmonize policies at regional and continental level to curb and disrupt the practice of IFF’s in the continent.