Attempts to question FATF’s credibility often reflect fear of scrutiny: India at the UN

India said the countries’ attempts to question the FATF’s credibility reflected their “fear of scrutiny” and asked those states to stop exporting instability and prevent their territory from being used for terrorism, in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish made the remarks on Monday (June 29, 2026) at a Counter-Terrorism Week 2026 side event titled “Joining Forces to Counter Terrorist Financing in the Context of Evolving Threats and Emerging Technologies.”

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“The FATF remains an indispensable pillar of the global anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering architecture. Its work is technical, evidence-based and rooted in internationally recognized standards. Attempts to challenge its credibility often reflect a fear of scrutiny rather than genuine process concerns,” Harish said.

The event was co-organized by the Permanent Missions of India and France to the UN, the Committee on Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the Global Internet Forum on Counter-Terrorism (GIFCT).

He said countries facing adverse ratings should address identified deficiencies, strengthen domestic enforcement, improve financial transparency and demonstrate irreversible measures against terrorist financing networks.

“The answer to FATF review is not politicized activism in UN forums, but credible compliance. States that allow their territories, institutions or financial channels to be misused for terrorism must stop exporting instability and start living up to their obligations to international peace and security,” Harish said in a thinly veiled allusion to Pakistan.

Pakistan has been on the FATF gray list since 2018, but was removed in 2022.

Addressing the event, Mr. Harish said that he does not talk about the issue of counter-terrorism in the abstract.

“My country, India, has been facing cross-border terrorism for decades and new digital technologies are only making the sources, methods and channels used for the flow of assets more complex,” he said.

India has been a member of the influential global body that sets standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing since 2010. Earlier this month, Union Culture Minister Vivek Aggarwal was appointed vice-chairman of the FATF for the period from July 2026 to June 2027.

Mr. Harish noted that in the current era of technological advancement, crowdfunding platforms and prepaid tools have become central to the financing infrastructure of global terrorist operations.

“Crowdfunding by radicalized individuals to finance terrorism and the use of tokens, stars and points on social media platforms by terrorists to store and transfer their value are real issues that deeply concern us all,” he said.

Terrorists are technologically neutral and accept whatever is cheap, fast, easily regulated and convenient, he said.

“Our response must be a risk-based architecture enshrined in the FATF standards,” Mr Harish said, adding that history shows that critical terrorist financing risks have not emerged anonymously.

“They were sponsored, including some state actors,” again referring to Pakistan.

Mr. Harish said regulation must not punish the legitimate.

“Steps towards financial inclusion, humanitarian action and responsible innovation are only undermined when illicit flows go unchecked. Therefore, the regulatory outcome should be proportionate, not prohibitive,” he said.

India has made an “honest effort” to practice what it advocates.

“We have integrated virtual asset service providers into our anti-money laundering framework. We have tightened verification requirements for centralized exchanges and users, and contributed case studies to FATF updates and best practices to mitigate terrorist financing risks,” he said.

In October 2022, the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), chaired by India that year, organized a special meeting in New Delhi and Mumbai under the overarching theme of “Countering the Use of New and Emerging Technologies for Terrorist Purposes”.

As a result of the special session, the committee adopted the “Delhi Declaration” on combating the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.

Mr. Harish said India has decided to focus the committee’s attention on two frontiers: virtual assets and online platforms, adding that India, as head of the UNSC CTC, has developed non-binding guiding principles under the Delhi Declaration.

“It is a matter of great satisfaction that its pillars are moving forward and the world is benefiting from it,” he said.

In his remarks to the Fourth High-Level Counter-Terrorism Conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world is facing acute instability as conflicts cause energy shocks, inflation and hunger around the world, with millions displaced and millions more facing economic hardship.

“These conditions – emergency, fragility, mistrust – are ideal conditions for terror to flourish. From Africa to South Asia and throughout the Middle East, al-Qaeda and Daesh and other terrorist groups persist,” he said.

Guterres said violent extremist narratives – including those based on xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance or in the name of religion or belief – pose deadly domestic threats in many countries.

“Terrorists of all kinds are adapting. New technologies are making it easier for them to finance and recruit. Criminal networks are accelerating the flow of cash and weapons, now including deadly drones,” he added.

“Terrorists are adept at using new technologies, including artificial intelligence, digital platforms and unmanned weapons,” he said.

While these tools have increased their ability to recruit, finance and plan attacks, technology also offers powerful tools for early detection of threats, stemming the flow of illicit assets and understanding pathways to terrorist radicalization, he said.

hariMr. Guterres called on the international community to work together to address the conditions and grievances that allow terrorism to take root, stressing that terrorism is a transnational threat and no nation can tackle it alone.