The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 with the mission to combat money laundering and terrorist financing globally.
Comprising 37 member states, the FATF sets international standards aimed at preventing illegal activities in the financial sector.
It achieves its objectives by issuing recommendations that serve as globally endorsed standards.
These recommendations guide the national authorities in implementing legal, regulatory, and operational measures to battle money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial threats.
The FATF works through a process of mutual evaluations to assess the effectiveness of its members in implementing these measures.
FATF is headquartered in Paris.
FATF and India
India became a full member of the FATF in 2010 and is subject to periodic mutual evaluations by the organization to assess its compliance with international standards for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
Current Issue with NGOs and FATF Reports
Amnesty International recently reported that Indian authorities are misusing FATF recommendations to target civil society groups and activists.
According to Amnesty, these recommendations are being weaponized to bring in stringent laws that stifle the non-profit sector in India.
This comes ahead of India's fourth round of mutual evaluation by the FATF.
Critics argue that the Indian government is exploiting these international standards to silence dissent and must be held accountable for this misuse.
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