On November 16, 2023. The International Court of Justice delivered its Order on the request for the indication of provisional measures made by Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the case concerning Application of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Canada and the Netherlands v. Syrian Arab Republic).

 On November 15, 2023, French judicial authorities granted international arrest warrants for Syrian President Bashar Assad, his brother, and two army generals for alleged conspiracy in war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Besides President Assad, the court issued arrest warrants against his brother, Maher Assad, the commander of the 4^th Armored Division, and two Syrian army generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam a-Hassan.

On October 31, 2023, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a draft Risk-Based Guidance on Beneficial Ownership and Transparency of Legal Arrangements with respect to FATF Recommendation 25.  FATF explains that countries should assess the money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks of misuse of legal arrangements and take preventive measures. 

Recent reports indicate that wildlife smugglers are taking advantage of ineffective enforcement of wildlife protection treaties to smuggle protected species through South and Southeast Asian airports. Research by TRAFFIC found that wildlife traffickers often use Indian airports to smuggle protected species internationally. 

On October 11, 2023, the OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann welcomed the announcement that 48 countries and jurisdictions have agreed to implement the OECD’s global tax transparency framework for the reporting and exchanging of information with respect to crypto assets by 2027.

 A French appellate court affirmed the denial of an extradition request from the Ukrainian government, ruling that Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantyn Zhevago should not be extradited. In 2019, Ukraine charged Zhevago with embezzling and laundering $113 million at Finance & Credit Bank.  In 2021, at the request of Ukraine Interpol issued a Red Notice against him.  After his arrest, a French court granted him pre-trial release on bail for € 1 million.

On November 1, 2023, Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo resigned after the publication of audio messages in which he seemed to ask a former official to not furnish evidence in an investigation concerning a passport issued to Sebastián Marset, an accused drug trafficker and fugitive.

 Global money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks just keep on rising, according to the 2023 Public Edition of the Basel AML Index, released on  November 13, 2023. And that has a real impact on people’s lives today – from well-funded terrorist attacks to trillions of dollars flowing out of countries through corruption and organized crime.

On September 29, 2023, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced new agency-wide guidance on the use of INTERPOL Red Notices and Wanted Person Diffusions (WPD). While questions remain about how ICE will interpret and implement this guidance in practice, it marks a major step forward in the sophistication of ICE’s use of INTERPOL communications in law enforcement actions and immigration proceedings.

On October 27, 2023, the fourth Plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) under the Presidency of T. Raja Kumar of Singapore concluded and acted on a number of items, which this article discusses. The FATF granted full membership to Indonesia and continued the suspension of the membership of Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.