Briefer on Government Over-Regulation Based On AML/CTF and How Civil Society Can Respond

PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 2021

Governments are increasingly introducing new laws or seeking to amend existing ones to tighten regulation of the non-profit sector. They often state that their actions are necessary to comply with the standards required by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) around anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CTF). In the past two years alone, governments have introduced or are contemplating FATF-inspired NPO-legislation in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This briefer, developed together with ECNL and ICNL, gives an introduction to FATF, why its standards matter for civil society in Africa, and how nonprofits can take action to address over-regulations that the governments justify on the basis of addressing money laundering/terrorism financing threats.