UN Approves Establishment of UN Counter-Terrorism Office

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomes the establishment a new UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

New York, 21 Ramadan 1438/16 June 2017 (MINA) — UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed the adoption Thursday of a General Assembly resolution which endorsed his proposal to establish a new UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, KUNA reported.

The Secretary General sincerely thanked in a statement the President of the General Assembly for facilitating this consensus resolution and Member States for their strong support for his initiative which constitutes a major reform of the UN Counter-Terrorism architecture.

Guterres expects the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre within the new Office of Counter-Terrorism to play a central role in the provision of enhanced capacity building assistance to Member States.

According to the statement, the UN Chief expressed appreciation to the role being played by the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre Advisory Board in guiding its work, and the growing number of Member States who are contributing to it.

Further, he considered counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism to be one of the highest priorities of the United Nations to address a growing threat to international peace and security.

He therefore hoped that this reform of the UN Counter-Terrorism architecture will contribute to the UN’s broader efforts to promote conflict prevention, sustainable peace and development.

The UN General Assembly adoption came in recognition of the importance of countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism as and when conducive to terrorism.

In this regard, the UNGA stressed the importance of an integrated and balanced implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy across its four pillars, reaffirming the principal responsibility of Member States for implementing the Strategy.

The resolution, A/71/L.66, emphasized the need to ensure that the Office of Counter-Terrorism, to be headed by an Undersecretary General, is provided with adequate capacity and other resources for the implementation of its mandated activities.

On his behalf, the General Assembly President Peter Thomson said in a separate statement the resolution will enhance the UNs’ capability to assist Member States in implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy across its four pillars by ensuring greater coordination and coherence across the UN system, and by improving visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations’ counter-terrorism efforts. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)