Financial Crime × Human Rights

Bridging the gap between human rights protection and financial crime prevention.

The fight against illicit finance can play a significant role in identifying instrumentalities and proceeds of international crimes and gross human rights violations. We help financial institutions strengthen their detection skills, we promote a more effective use of AML/CFT frameworks, and we reinforce information-sharing between civil society actors and regulated businesses.

Why this matters

Two sectors that have yet to join forces.

The financial crime sector has the ability to prevent profiting from international crimes and gross human rights violations. However, while anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) frameworks offer powerful instruments, they remain largely under-utilised.

The human rights sector has yet to develop strong financial investigation capacities, or to fully grasp how much the tools of the financial sector can contribute to preventing profiting from international crimes and gross human rights violations.

Our Services

Two ways we put human rights intelligence and analysis to work.

Verified intelligence and legal expertise, delivered into the compliance workflows and accountability processes where decisions are actually made.

01

Financial Transnational Repression Dashboard

The missing human rights layer in global financial compliance. A continuously updated tool that tracks indicators of abuse, flags the systemic misuse of designation mechanisms, and surfaces suspicious listings, so institutions can make informed decisions instead of defaulting to blanket de-risking.

See how it works
02

Investigation & Strategic Litigation

Using existing anti-money laundering legislation to investigate, prevent and fight the laundering of funds derived from international crimes and severe human rights abuses, through investigations and strategic litigation.

Explore the practice

Financial Transnational Repression Dashboard

When aggregating information and checking procedure, most global compliance tools and programs do not apply a contextual analysis and human rights verification layer. Designations from authoritarian regimes end up flowing automatically into global banking, accounts are frozen, blanket de-risking practices are implemented, and the proceeds of international crimes move unseen.

We build the intelligence and the analysis that make this visible.

The Financial Transnational Repression Dashboard tracks indicators of abuse, flags the systemic misuse of designation mechanisms, and surfaces suspicious listings, so institutions can make informed decisions instead of defaulting to blanket de-risking.

What the dashboard does

  • Tracks indicators of abuse to identify systemic misuse of designation mechanisms.
  • Flags suspicious listings and assesses whether designations by specific regimes are politically motivated.
  • Reduces blanket de-risking by giving compliance teams the context to investigate rather than reflexively turn clients away.
  • Bridges civil society and finance, enabling NGOs and financial institutions to join forces in detecting and reporting abuse of AML/CFT frameworks.

Built for NGOs and regulated businesses alike, in particular financial institutions navigating foreign designation lists under uncertainty and civil society actors investigating cases of financial transnational repression.

Investigation & Strategic Litigation

We use anti-money laundering legislation to investigate and hold accountable individuals and entities that launder revenues acquired from the commission of international crimes and gross human rights violations.

Our practice combines financial investigation with legal strategy, and builds on a dual expertise: international law and financial crime. We identify money laundering associated with international crimes and severe human rights abuses, and connect corporate ownership structures and financial flows to documented violations.

By supporting accountability processes, our work contributes to the fight against impunity for both financial and international crimes.

How we work

  • Financial investigation into the laundering of funds obtained from international crimes and severe human rights abuses.
  • Strategic litigation that builds on existing AML/CFT legislation and connects corporate ownership structures and financial flows to documented violations.
Ongoing case

Investigation into the laundering of proceeds derived from crimes under international law in a crisis-affected region.

Who We Serve

Bringing financial crime expertise to human rights work, and human rights expertise to financial crime prevention.

Our work surfaces at the point of a compliance decision or an accountability process, wherever verified human rights context is missing.

Financial institutions

Managing the legal, regulatory and reputational risk of financial flows linked to international crimes.

Compliance teams

Requiring verified human rights context for AML, KYC and sanctions-screening decisions.

Regulators & FIUs

Identifying typologies and red flags associated with funding or profiting from international crimes.

Law firms

Building corporate-accountability and financial-crime cases that require financial and human rights intelligence.

NGOs

Strengthening financial investigation capacity and use of AML/CFT tools.

Litigation actors

Pursuing the proceeds and instrumentalities of gross human rights violations.

Get in touch

Let's close the gap between finance and human rights.

Whether you are a financial institution, a regulator, a law firm or an NGO, we would like to understand the exposure you are managing, and show you what verified human rights intelligence makes visible.

We'll reply within two business days. Your details are kept confidential.