ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the counter-terrorist financing measures that existed prior to the terrorist attacks in September 2001. It also illustrates the impact of the terrorist attacks on the legislative responses of the United Nations, the European Union, and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. The UN has become the fulcrum of the 'Financial War on Terrorism', and its legislative agenda vehemently moved away from money laundering towards the financing of terrorism after the terrorist attacks in September 2001. The chapter explains that the threat posed by terrorist financing was belatedly recognised by the UN when it introduced the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (1999) following terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda in Kenya and Tanzania. It concludes that the international community was not prepared for the threat posed by the financing of terrorism and that 9/11 acted as a galvanising factor for the introduction of a set of international legislative measures.
