Overview: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government continued to build its counterterrorism capacity and strengthened international counterterrorism cooperation. Over the course of the year, the UAE government improved border security measures and renewed efforts to combat terrorist financing. The United States and UAE governments were in negotiations to establish a pre-clearance facility at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. Prominent officials and religious leaders continued to publicly criticize violent extremist ideology.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: The UAE participated in the Megaports and Container Security Initiatives (CSI). The CSI, which became operational at Port Rashid and Jebel Ali Port in the Emirate of Dubai in 2005, has two U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers co-located with the Dubai Customs Intelligence Unit at Port Rashid. On average, CSI reviewed approximately 250 bills of lading each week, resulting in about 25 non-intrusive inspections per month of U.S.- bound containers; examinations were conducted jointly with Dubai Customs officers, who shared information on transshipments from high risk areas, including those originating in Iran.

In 2012, the UAE implemented the use of retina scanning devices at international airport arrival terminals. The risk analysis or targeting practice, i.e., who is subjected to the scans, remained unclear.

In 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed two Memoranda of Cooperation (MOCs) to support the respective training academies of the UAE Ministry of Interior's (federal) Immigration Authority and the Abu Dhabi (emirate) Customs Authority (ADCA) and enhance capacity building of its police and customs authorities. The aforementioned MOCs remain in effect. In 2012, five retired ICE and CBP personnel were under direct contract of the UAE Ministry of Interior while six were under direct contract of the ADCA. All served the respective academies as subject-matter experts, course developers, and instructors. The two academies trained approximately 700 immigration and customs personnel in 2012.

A critical factor that poses a challenge to the effectiveness of the UAE's law enforcement, border security, and judicial system is the country's lack of human capacity. Emiratis compose only 11 percent of the country's total population, making it structurally difficult to develop the country's human resources to counter the full range of terrorist activities. Despite this, the UAE government remains vigilant in its overall counterterrorism pursuits.

Countering Terrorist Finance: The UAE is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body, and chairs the Training and Typologies Working Group. It is a major international banking and trading center. Its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit in the UAE Central Bank, is a member of the Egmont Group. The UAE continued efforts to strengthen its institutional capabilities to combat terrorist financing, but challenges remained with its enforcement of local and international law. The UAE's last mutual evaluation report in 2008 recommended it amend the federal anti-money laundering (AML) law and increase dedicated resources available to the Central Bank's Financial Intelligence Unit.

The Central Bank continued to conduct AML training both locally and regionally, and was expanding its cooperation with FIUs worldwide to bolster its ability to counter terrorist finance. Exploitation of money transmitters by illicit actors, which included licensed exchange houses, hawalas, and trading firms acting as money transmitters, remained a significant concern. This vulnerability was compounded by the voluntary registration regime for hawalas and their lack of enforceable Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism of terrorism obligations. Regional hawalas and associated trading companies in various expatriate communities, most notably Somalis, have established clearinghouses, the vast majority of which are not registered with the UAE government. There are some indications that trade-based money laundering occurs in the UAE and that such activity might support terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. The UAE Central Bank provides direct oversight to the Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group, the UAE's exchange house industry group, but its capacity and willingness to effectively monitor the sector remained unclear. Currently Emirati authorities are not capable of supervising the vast number of hawalas in the country or enforcing hawala compliance. Continuing from previous years, the United States and the UAE worked together to strengthen efforts to counter terrorist finance, including cross-border Bulk Cash Smuggling (BCS) and money laundering, with training, collaborative engagement with the local financial community, and other bilateral government cooperation.

In September, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Legal Attaché established a sub-office at the U.S. Consulate in Dubai to assist with Counterterrorism/Terrorist Financing Matters and provide a viable means to enhance cooperation between the FBI and UAE. Additionally, the FBI provided training courses to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) law enforcement counterparts.

In March, ICE and CBP provided BCS and AML training to UAE Customs and Law Enforcement officials in Dubai. The training consisted of academic and practical exercises concentrating on land-border interdiction and investigation of smuggled currency.

Regarding routine distribution of UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities to financial institutions, the UAE's communication with the local financial community is largely driven by follow-up on suspicious transactions reports and close bilateral cooperation with partner governments. However, most if not all banks receive the UN lists by means of their own internal compliance offices. Operational capability constraints and political considerations sometimes prevented the UAE government from immediately freezing and confiscating terrorist assets absent multilateral assistance.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, we refer you to the 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: The UAE is a founding member of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). At the GCTF launch in September 2011, the UAE announced that it would open the first-ever international center for training, dialogue, research, and strategic communication on countering violent extremism (CVE): the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, known as Hedayah. Hedayah was formally launched on December 13-14, 2012, at the GCTF's Third Coordinating Committee and Ministerial meetings in Abu Dhabi. The UAE and UK co-chair the GCTF CVE Working Group, whose meetings the UAE had earlier hosted on April 3-4, in Abu Dhabi. The UAE will be the permanent host of Hedayah.

In October, the UAE Ministry of Interior hosted the fifth regional field meeting for the "Project al Qabdah: Counterterrorism for the Middle East and North Africa." The project's goal is to increase information exchange among member countries and the Arab Interior Minister Councils. Participating organizations included the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Europol, and the Secretariat General of the Corporation Council for Arab States in the Gulf.

The UAE government routinely invited participation from GCC countries at counterterrorism-related training sessions conducted by the FBI in the UAE.

Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: In order to prevent violent extremist preaching in UAE mosques, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (Awqaf) provided guidelines for all Friday sermons and monitored compliance. Abroad, Awqaf has trained cohorts of Afghani imams on preaching messages of moderation and tolerance, a program they have conducted since 2010. During key periods of Muslim religious observance, especially the fasting month of Ramadan, the UAE government aired commercials on television warning its Muslim citizens and residents to refrain from donating money at mosques, as the funds could unknowingly go to support terrorist causes. The UAE worked to keep its education system free of radical influences, and it emphasized social tolerance and moderation. Also, the UAE has a cyber crime law criminalizing the use of the internet by terrorist groups to "promote their ideologies and finance their activities." The UAE government repeatedly condemned terrorist acts in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.

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