The General Assembly today 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 Ant¨®nio Guterres' initiative to transfer relevant functions out of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ 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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Counter-Terrorism Centre (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵCCT), 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 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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Counter-Terrorism Centre.
According to the report, the Office would have five main functions:
- provide leadership on the General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates entrusted to the Secretary-General from across the United Nations system;
- enhance coordination and coherence across the 38 Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force entities to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy;
- strengthen the delivery of United Nations counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance to Member States;
- improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts; and
- 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.
¡°The Secretary-General considers 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,¡± said his Spokesman St¨¦phane Dujarric in a statement issued just after the Assembly's action.
¡°He therefore hopes that this reform of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Counter-Terrorism architecture will contribute to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's broader efforts to promote conflict prevention, sustainable peace and development,¡± the Spokesman said.
For his part, ¡°this resolution will enhance the United Nations' capability to assist Member States in implementing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy across its four pillars by ensuring greater coordination and coherence across the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system, and by improving visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations' counter-terrorism efforts.¡±
