Washington, 17 December 2021 (MIA) – In 2020, North Macedonia was a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.  With no terrorist attacks in 2020 and no reported departures to join ISIS, the main counterterrorism issue North Macedonia faced consisted of returned FTFs, notes the annual country terrorism report on North Macedonia, written by the US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. The National Committee for Countering Violent Extremism and Countering Terrorism (NCCVECT) estimated that 143 citizens of North Macedonia (excluding children) previously traveled or attempted to travel to Syria and Iraq to join terrorist groups, reads the report. “Of the 126 adults who spent time in Syria and/or Iraq, 38 were killed, 69 returned to North Macedonia, and 19 remain,” it underlines. Authorities, the report notes, assessed the terrorist threat level to be “average,” or medium, as ISIS members and sympathizers maintained a presence in country.  In June the government adopted a national reintegration plan for FTFs and their family members. It also stresses that North Macedonia’s legislative framework is adequate to prosecute individuals suspected of committing or aiding terrorist activities or participating in foreign wars. Low sentencing for terrorism-related offenses remains a challenge. The report highlights the arrest of eight individuals, three in Skopje and five in Kumanovo, in December on suspicion of terrorism. “The Ministry of Interior’s terrorism and violent extremism sector led law enforcement-related CT efforts.  In August the unit arrested three individuals in Kumanovo in a joint operation with the Agency for National Security (ANS); they have not yet been indicted on terrorism charges.  The MoI stated that the three served jail time following their extradition from Turkey in 2016 for attempting to join ISIS and, following their release from prison in 2019, were plotting terrorist attacks in the country and possessed weapons and explosives.  The unit, alongside ANS, then arrested eight individuals, three in Skopje and five in Kumanovo, in December on suspicion of terrorism and in connection to the August arrests,” reads the report. The country’s AML/CFT legal framework, it adds, follows international standards.  North Macedonia is a member of MONEYVAL, a FATF-style regional body.  Its FIU, the report highlights, the Financial Intelligence Office (FIO), is a member of the Egmont Group.  The government in September adopted amendments to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing to transpose the provisions of Directive V (2018/843) and harmonize the law with the EU acquis; Parliament must still adopt the amendments. According to the report, the FIO in 2020 received two suspicious transaction reports for terrorist financing and eight informal reports; it submitted nine reports to relevant institutions for further investigation. In 2020, North Macedonia continued its close cooperation with other Western Balkan countries on CT and CVE issues, the report concludes.