Pakistan and new-borne UN Counter-Terrorism Office

The General Assembly on 15^th June approved the establishment of a new United Nations office to help Member States implement the Organization's global counter-terrorism strategy.

Adopting a consensus resolution, the 193-nation body also welcomed Secretary-General António Guterres' initiative to transfer relevant functions out of the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and into the new United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.

As a result, the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office (CTITF) and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), currently in DPA, will be transferred to the new office, together with their existing staff and all associated regular and extra-budgetary resources. The new Office would he headed up by an Under-Secretary-General.

In his report on this issue to the Assembly, the Secretary-General proposed that the new Under-Secretary-General would Chair the Task Force and Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre.

According to the report, the Office would have five main functions:

1. provide leadership on the General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates entrusted to the Secretary-General from across the United Nations system;
2. enhance coordination and coherence across the 38 Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force entities to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy;
3. strengthen the delivery of United Nations counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance to Member States;
4. improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts; and
5. ensure that due priority is given to counterterrorism across the United Nations system and that the important work on preventing violent extremism is firmly rooted in the Strategy.

Despite an important exporter of terrorism, Pakistan has welcomed the creation of the new UN Counter Terrorism Office and congratulated Russia on the appointment of veteran Russian diplomat Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov as the Under-Secretary General for the newly established office.

Speaking in a meeting of the Advisory Board of the UN's Counter Terrorism Center, Pakistan's Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that she hoped the new office will bring better coordination and coherence across the UN system on counter terrorism, according to a press release issued by the Pakistan Mission to the UN.

Pakistan is a member of the Advisory Board of the UN's Counter Terrorism Center, whose recent meeting reviewed the UN body's work. Apart from Pakistan, the members of the Advisory Board include Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, US, and the EU (as guest member).