Amidst global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of climate change, geopolitical pressures and the changing trade landscape, developing countries have made commendable efforts to implement policy options that minimize the effects of global shocks on their economies, including policies that boosted domestic resource mobilization.
Meanwhile, the International Financial Architecture framework, which has recently come under scrutiny, has not been able to provide the necessary financing to meet countries’ sustainable development needs. Thus, developing countries are compelled to look to alternative means of not only financing sustainable development, but also ensuring economic resilience to future shocks. Measuring and curbing illicit financial flows (IFFs), which divert much-needed financing for development by eroding the tax base, could strengthen domestic resource mobilization and enhance financing for sustainable development.
The importance of the fight against IFFs has been reiterated by member States gathering at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2025.
The Sevilla Commitment emphasizes the urgent importance of addressing root causes of IFFs and overcoming them by adopting stronger measures to fight tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, eliminate safe havens, combat money laundering and corruption, improve asset recovery, and promote timely and accurate data exchange, including trade data, to address smuggling and trade misinvoicing.
As co-custodians of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 16.4.1 on the total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is working with countries to strengthen the measurement of tax and commercial IFFs, as well as to develop evidence-based policies that aim to curb them. Within this context, UNCTAD and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) are organizing a joint briefing for Geneva-based Permanent Missions on measuring illicit financial flows and developing evidence-based policies to curb them, to mobilize domestic resources and achieve peace, security and justice.
The expert briefing by UNCTAD and the best-practice examples from pilot countries will be at the centre of the meeting held on 11 – 12 December 2025 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
The main objective of the session is to showcase the importance of measuring illicit financial flows to inform evidence-based policymaking and ultimately strengthen domestic resource mobilization for developing countries based on nationally compiled IFF statistics.
