Press Release / / 04.28.26
28 April 2026
Ahead of the UK-hosted Illicit Finance Summit, a global coalition of 34 civil society organizations urges action to address the escalating role of illicit gold in financing wars, corruption, organised crime, and environmental and societal harms.
Amid a wave of geopolitical instability and surging demand for the metal, gold is increasingly attractive as a strategic financial vehicle for organized crime, sanctions evasion, corruption and political control, with disastrous implications for the environment, human rights and security. Impacts include river pollution, forest destruction and grave abuses against affected communities.
With the UK serving as the center of the world’s largest over-the-counter gold market, the government is uniquely exposed to the risks associated with illicit gold flows, and also well positioned to combat the threat through domestic policies and international partnerships. Acknowledging the illicit gold crisis, the UK government is featuring gold alongside two other high-risk asset classes – crypto and property – at the Illicit Finance Summit (June 23-24) to be held concurrently with London Action Climate Week (June 20-28).
A coalition of 34 civil society groups applaud the UK government’s initiative, but warn that current levels of ambition are not on track to match the scale of the illicit gold threat. Drawing on their collective expertise working on gold-related corruption, insecurity, money laundering, and environmental and human rights harms, the organizations have advanced joint recommendations for action by the international community as well as the UK, as the host and lead of the Summit.
Helen Taylor, Deputy Director of Spotlight on Corruption, said:
“With gold prices hitting record highs, this valuable commodity has become the go-to currency for organised criminals, warlords and sanctions evaders. Illicit gold is driving corruption, environmental harm and conflict, while fuelling global illicit financial flows that threaten our security and prosperity. Given London’s role as a major financial centre and gold trading hub, the UK can play a crucial leadership role in forging international partnerships to tackle the global problem of dirty gold. The Summit must be the springboard for ambitious collective action to address the key drivers of illicit gold and the regulatory loopholes which leave us exposed to its dirty money flows.”
Sophia Pickles, Senior Analyst at GI-TOC, said:
“Criminal risks in international bullion centres, gold trading hubs and financial centres remain under‑scrutinised, despite significant vulnerabilities that enable increasingly sophisticated criminal operations. Illicit gold, including gold used to launder criminal proceeds, enters legal channels through under-examined mechanisms like loco (location) swaps – agreements to exchange equivalent quantities of metal in two separate locations – or by being labelled as recycled gold, a widely recognised loophole. Persistent data gaps across producing countries and international gold trading hubs create structural opacity that further enables this laundering, and this opacity is contributing to geocriminality: the instrumentalization of criminal networks by states to achieve policy priorities while enabling states to maintain distance and plausible deniability.”
Daryl Bosu, Deputy National Director – Operations at A Rocha Ghana, said:
“Ghana’s forests and rivers are being destroyed by the global gold price boom, with illegal and irresponsible mining poisoning water, degrading critical ecosystem assets and services, and exposing key agricultural commodities and communities to increasing risk. Gold linked to this destruction still reaches markets like London. We urgently need full traceability from mine to market, shared prosperity along the entire value chain, and an end to the loopholes that let illicit gold flow unchecked. For people, nature and climate resilience, half-measures can no longer be an option.”
Hannah Mowat, Campaigns Coordinator at Fern, said:
“As the price of gold soars, so does the cost of extracting it. From the Amazon to Ghana to Indonesia, some of the most critically important rainforests are being razed for gold which is sold on international markets. Gold mining drives more deforestation than any other mineral. Meanwhile many of the artisanal miners feeding the rocketing demand for gold are trapped in cycles of poverty. We must end this damage by both introducing national traceability systems to ensure gold isn’t being sourced from forested areas, and supporting artisanal miners to market sustainable gold.”
Sam Mawutor, Senior Advisor for Africa at Mighty Earth, said:
“As Africa’s top producer, gold mining in Ghana has the potential to transform the nation and improve the lives of its people. Yet this is being undermined by poor governance of small-scale mining, which fuels human health risks from pollution and destroys forests, farms, and water bodies.”
“Goldbod, which oversees the gold trade in Ghana, has taken critical steps to control the domestic supply chain while aiming to meet the London Bullion Market Association standard. While traceability from pit to port is necessary for sustainable gold entering global markets, the systems for developing it must be credible and transparent to safeguard artisanal producers, increase national value, and protect forests and the communities that rely on them.”
Sasha Lezhnev, Senior Policy Advisor at The Sentry, said:
“The skyrocketing price of gold has driven a dramatic increase in the flow of conflict gold that funds deadly armed groups and criminal networks in the DR Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, United Arab Emirates, and elsewhere. The UK Illicit Finance Summit is a critical opportunity to address the threat of illicit gold, particularly if governments and industry can agree to a process to monitor and validate international bullion centres on verification procedures and increase trade data transparency. The window for action on IBCs is now.”
Lucy Brill, CAFOD Private Sector Policy Lead, said:
“For many years, our partners in Latin America have told us about the devastating impact of illegal gold mining on indigenous communities in places like the Amazon. Harmful methods used by illegal miners, notably the use of mercury to extract gold, have led to severe river pollution. The mercury poisons the fish, depriving communities of their primary food source and leading to widespread malnutrition and more child deaths.
Illegal gold mining also has devastating social impacts, increasing gender-based violence, fuelling drug trafficking, and disrupting the social fabric of communities, while also exacerbating health risks (malaria, and other diseases) and undermining traditional livelihoods and governance systems.
Governments must show a willingness to act decisively to reduce these harms, by clamping down on illegal mining and holding international mining companies to account if they fail to prevent such abuses within their supply chains.”
Ehuana Yara Yanomami, indigenous woman traditional leader, Roraima, Brazil said:
“Yanomami want to live in a living forest, with clean water. Illegal miners destroy our forest, where we produce food for our children, where we grow our crops, where we live, and where we have drinking water. Because of this, we do not want them to enter our land — the Yanomami and Ye’kuana territory. Mining brings many threats.”
Facts Only
A coalition of 34 civil society organizations is calling for action on illicit gold ahead of the UK-hosted Illicit Finance Summit on June 23-24, 2026.
The Summit will address gold, crypto, and property as high-risk asset classes for illicit finance.
The UK is the center of the world’s largest over-the-counter gold market.
Illicit gold is linked to financing wars, corruption, organized crime, and environmental harm, including river pollution and deforestation.
Gold prices have hit record highs, increasing its attractiveness for criminal activities.
Mechanisms like "loco swaps" and mislabeling gold as recycled enable illicit gold to enter legal markets.
Ghana’s forests and rivers are being destroyed by illegal mining, with gold reaching markets like London.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, and the UAE are cited as regions where conflict gold funds armed groups.
Indigenous communities, such as the Yanomami in Brazil, face severe threats from illegal mining, including forest destruction and water contamination.
Civil society groups recommend traceability systems, support for artisanal miners, and closing regulatory loopholes.
The UK government is acknowledged for featuring gold at the Summit but is criticized for insufficient ambition.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative is that illicit gold has become a systemic enabler of global harm—financing conflict, environmental destruction, and human rights abuses—while exploiting regulatory gaps in major financial hubs like London. The coalition’s call to action is well-supported by concrete examples: the use of "loco swaps" to launder gold, the mislabeling of conflict minerals as recycled, and the devastating impact on Indigenous communities like the Yanomami. The framing effectively ties local crises (e.g., Ghana’s deforestation) to global financial systems, making the case for urgent policy intervention.
However, the narrative leans heavily on emotional appeals—highlighting child deaths from mercury poisoning and Indigenous pleas for clean water—which, while valid, could risk oversimplifying complex supply chains. The focus on the UK’s role is justified given its market dominance, but the absence of specific policy proposals (beyond traceability and closing loopholes) leaves room for skepticism about feasibility. The pattern of framing illicit gold as a singular, solvable crisis—rather than a symptom of broader governance failures—could inadvertently downplay the entrenched interests (e.g., state-backed criminal networks) that sustain these flows.
Root cause: The paradigm assumes that tighter regulations and transparency alone can disrupt illicit gold flows, but historical patterns (e.g., drug trafficking, blood diamonds) suggest that criminal networks adapt quickly to regulatory changes. The unstated assumption is that consumer markets and financial institutions will voluntarily comply with stricter rules, despite profit incentives.
Implications: If unchecked, the illicit gold trade will continue to erode environmental protections, fuel conflicts, and undermine trust in global financial systems. The second-order consequence is that artisanal miners—often the most vulnerable—could face further marginalization if regulations are imposed without equitable support.
Bridge questions: What evidence exists that past regulatory efforts (e.g., the Kimberley Process for diamonds) have successfully curbed illicit flows? How might state actors complicit in "geocriminality" (as noted by GI-TOC) undermine international cooperation? Would a shift in consumer demand (e.g., lab-grown gold) be more effective than supply-side regulations?
Counterstrike scan: A bad-actor playbook would amplify emotional narratives (e.g., Indigenous suffering) to pressure rapid policy changes without addressing systemic corruption, or frame the UK as uniquely culpable to deflect from other complicit nations. The actual content does not match this pattern; it presents a balanced critique with actionable recommendations, though it could benefit from deeper scrutiny of enforcement challenges.
Patterns detected: none
Sentinel — Human
The text exhibits the complexity and varied voice characteristic of human-edited journalism, synthesizing high-level policy goals with specific, localized examples of environmental and social harm.