{"id":2000132065,"date":"2026-11-12T09:13:31","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T07:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000132065"},"modified":"2026-11-12T09:13:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T07:13:51","slug":"senate-raises-concerns-over-faith-based-organisations-safeguards-against-terrorist-financing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/senate-raises-concerns-over-faith-based-organisations-safeguards-against-terrorist-financing\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate raises concerns over faith-based organisations\u2019 safeguards against terrorist financing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The findings are contained in RGB\u2019s 2025\/2026 activity report, presented to both chambers of Parliament by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Doris Uwicyeza Picard, on November 11, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assessment examined compliance with measures to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It found that only 11.1% of the organisations use sanctions lists to screen beneficiaries, while 12.4% use them to check donors. Only 13.9% have policies addressing terrorist financing, and 17.5% conduct related risk assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Alfred Gasana expressed concern over the low compliance levels, urging RGB to take action against organisations that fail to meet the requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe indicators are very low. Among the organisations assessed, only 5.1% provide relevant training, 8.8% have an officer responsible for reporting suspicious activities, and 13.9% have policies to combat terrorist financing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gasana noted that RGB has the authority to sanction non-compliant organisations, including revoking their legal personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder Article 6 of the RGB law, the board can request explanations, temporarily suspend registration certificates or revoke the legal personality of non-governmental organisations or faith-based organisations that fail to meet the requirements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report indicates that 82.1% of the organisations do not provide staff training on preventing terrorist financing, while 12.8% offer it only to a limited extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It further found that 68.8% verify information about donors, but 47% never conduct enhanced due diligence on them. Regarding donations, 67.1% use legally recognised financial institutions, 12.8% receive cash, while 20% use both methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Uwicyeza said faith-based organisations face particular risks because of their operational nature and the cash contributions they receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFaith-based organisations are considered high-risk in terms of terrorist financing because of their nature. They receive substantial amounts of cash through transactions that are not very visible, given how they are structured and operate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that additional regulations had been introduced to monitor the sources of their income and how the funds are spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also found that 42% never monitor activities financed through donations, while 39.5% do so regularly. Overall, 15.9% of the organisations face high terrorist financing risks, 76.8% moderate risks and 7.3% low risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
About 15% of faith-based organisations are classified as high-risk for money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An assessment by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) has found that only 5.1% of religious organisations regularly train their staff on preventing terrorist financing, while 8.8% have designated officers responsible for reporting suspicious activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000132066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"archived_slugs":[],"footnotes":"","igh_game_id":0},"categories":[16],"tags":[151,70],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000132065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-home-ighlight","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8,"twitter_handle":""}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8,"twitter_handle":""}],"featured_image":{"id":2000132066,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/Briefcase-handover-before-a-cross-topped-church.webp","alt":"","caption":"About 15% of faith-based organisations are classified as high-risk for money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.","mime_type":"image\/webp","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/Briefcase-handover-before-a-cross-topped-church-150x150.webp","width":150,"height":150},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/Briefcase-handover-before-a-cross-topped-church-300x200.webp","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/Briefcase-handover-before-a-cross-topped-church-768x512.webp","width":768,"height":512},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/Briefcase-handover-before-a-cross-topped-church-1024x683.webp","width":1024,"height":683},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/Briefcase-handover-before-a-cross-topped-church.webp","width":1536,"height":1024}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000132065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000132065"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000132065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000132068,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000132065\/revisions\/2000132068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000132066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000132065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000132065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000132065"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000132065"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000132065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}