Misuse of charitable giving to finance violent extremism; A futuristic actions study amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

Muhammad Akram,Abid Rehman,Asim Nasar

doi:10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100140

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to explore the shadow economy of violent extremism through charity lenses and factors associated with misuse of charitable giving in a global financial system. It reviews the emergency response situations like COVID-19 when financial needs are urgent with lacked monitoring and control over payment disbursement to vulnerable groups. It highlights several governments’ significant steps to counter the illicit finance flow through ‘public-face’ charity organizations. Descriptive research was used to gather secondary data insights using published reports, articles, news portals, and policy briefs from renowned institutions. The findings depict four factors known as economic and capacity, socio-cultural, politico-legal, and global networks support in misuse of charitable giving to finance violent extremism. This study claims not all charitable giving misused for extremism and violence. However, there is a possibility that extremist groups could take advantage of using humanitarian organizations’ face to finance violent extremism. Two possible recommendations have been made to overcome this issue by adopting digital payment mechanisms and community engagement to design and deliver the COVID-19 response recovery programs.

Highlights

The purpose of the study is to explore the shadow economy of violent extremism through charity lenses and factors associated with misuse of charitable giving in a global financial system
This paper explores and understands the shadow economy of violent extremism through charity lenses by identifying its key resources, often religion-oriented, in a global financial flow
The paper structure comprises of three sections: first, types of charity and global financial system; second, factors of extremism finance and COVID-19 pandemic; the third, role of governments to counter the misuse of charitable giving to finance violent extremism

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of the study is to explore the shadow economy of violent extremism through charity lenses and factors associated with misuse of charitable giving in a global financial system It reviews the emergency response situations like COVID-19 when financial needs are urgent with lacked monitoring and control over payment disbursement to vulnerable groups. This paper explores and understands the shadow economy of violent extremism through charity lenses by identifying its key resources, often religion-oriented, in a global financial flow It emphasizes emergency response situations like COVID-19 when financial needs are urgent with lacked monitoring. The paper structure comprises of three sections: first, types of charity and global financial system; second, factors of extremism finance and COVID-19 pandemic; the third, role of governments to counter the misuse of charitable giving to finance violent extremism. Humanitarian programs’ cash payments to help vulnerable groups were largely non-trackable, making cash payments attractive for illicit transactions

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Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion