The Initiative Against Illicit Finance

    Impacts of smuggling on economic development of a country. Smuggling as a form of IFFs is the illegal movement of goods, people and money across borders. It can be done secretly or openly but whatever the intentions are, it always violates the rule of law in any given country. Smuggling can involve different purposes such as tax evasion, import export restrictions or prohibitions on certain items.                                                        Smuggling can involve different methods such as hiding, disguising, bribing and using violence. Some examples of smuggling include smuggling drugs in and out of the country such as cocaine and heroin, smuggling immigrants across the border or people who wan...

  An insight into wildlife crimes in Uganda. Wildlife crimes are illegal activities that harm or exploit wild animals plants or their habitats. Examples include poaching, trafficking of wild life and wild life products, illegal trade in exotic pets, hunting endangered species and destruction of natural habitats where these species seek refuge.  Uganda has a rich diversity of wildlife and is home to a diverse range of species including primates, large mammals , birds and reptiles. some of the most famous wildlife attractions in Uganda include gorillas, chimpanzees, a variety of antelope and bird species. Uganda has a number of national parks and protected areas that are dedicated to conserving its wildlife and natural resources.  However as good as this looks to any country with such assets, all is not rosy in the wild life sector as poaching has taken toll in these game parks and other natural habitats. Poaching is the illegal hunting, killing or capturing of wild animals...

  Drug trafficking: leading source of illicit financial flows Drug trafficking is the illegal production, transportation and sale of drugs. Illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine are the most trafficked drugs worldwide.   They are called illegal drugs because they can be addictive and are harmful to one’s health. They are also prohibited by law because their production sale and use can lead to negative consequences such as crime and violence. They are often smuggled across borders through smuggling them, hiding them into food products, vehicles or shipping them as packages. Traffickers can also use human couriers to transport drugs or use the internet to sell the drugs. Drug trafficking as a source of illicit financial flows often involves large sums of money across borders without proper documentation or regulation. This can lead to money laundering and other forms of financial crime, which can undermine the legitimate economic activity and contribute...

  Human Trafficking in Uganda : Human trafficking is the recruitment or transportation or harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability. It is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services or to engage in commercial sex acts or to illegally harvest their organs. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological. It can also be described as the giving or receiving of payments done in exchange of humans illegally for what they are yet to be used for. The motive for this is most cases a dangerous one. Uganda is battling human trafficking. Men, women and children are trafficked from rural areas and communities and exported into bigger towns and cities for commercial sex, labour exploitation. Some of the countries they are destined to include Saudi Arabia, Oman Republic, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Ke...

  Understanding Transnational Organized Crime and crime based illicit financial flows. Transnational Organized crime takes many forms and is constantly evolving. the groups and networks involved  are fluid, the channels used to traffic one commodity will be the same channels used to smuggle in the other.  It is or this reason that we had a three-day training from to pound more on TOCs and IFFs from Friday may 26 th May, Monday May the 29 th  to  Tuesday May the 30 th.  The facilitators of this training were ·          Eric Guiterez-a PhD holder from Erasmus University Rotterdam for his dissertation “Resilience and Interdependency: In Opium and Coca Commodity Chains”. ·          Andrew Tennant: Currently a director of Gentium UK Ltd. He has over 23 years’ experience in working with law enforcement, dealing with organized crime and recovery management. ·   ...

                                 What Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations are? These are voluntary associations where members regularly pool their savings and subsequently obtain loans which they use for personal purposes. The objectives of most if not all SACCOs is to assist the society members to undertake income generating activities through provision of credit facilities and offer members complimentary savings and affordable credit services. They provide financial services such as savings and credit to members sharing a common interest which include but not limited to living in the same area or working for the same employer, belonging to the same church, having attended the same school. They have been beneficial in improving peoples saving culture since they will require you to save an agreed minimum amount every month. ...