
Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Mich¨¨le Coninsx, and Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOCT) conducted joint high-level consultations with the Government of the Philippines in Manila from 1 to 3 March 2020.
The high-level visit aimed to, inter alia, learn about the current and evolving terrorist threat, identify progress made in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and relevant Security Council resolutions and related international standards; and to exchange views on remaining challenges and areas in which the Philippines might benefit from receiving technical assistance in accordance with the priority needs identified by the Counter-Terrorism Committee pursuant to its follow-up visit of October 2019.
The consultations included meetings with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs; the National Security Adviser; the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government; the Presidential Adviser of Peace, Reconciliation; and the Unity Secretary; senior officials of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Anti-Terrorism Council (Programme Management Centre), the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process; the Anti-Money-Laundering Council; the Secretary of Justice; the Vice Chair of the Anti-Terrorism Council and Task Force; civil society organizations, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, and representatives of the United Nations Country Team.
The joint high-level consultations provided a vital opportunity for Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOCT and CTED to explore further areas of cooperation with the Government of the Philippines, particularly in the context of strengthening the Philippines¡¯ criminal justice response to counter terrorism, the importance of gender, age-sensitive, and human rights compliance in counterterrorism efforts, support for the Philippines¡¯ participation in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Countering Terrorist Travel Programme (CTTP) and the Strengthening Resilience against Violent Extremism ASIA Project (STRIVE Asia).
CTED will continue to work with the Government of the Philippines and Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOCT to define specific Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOCT-supported projects to address the Philippines¡¯ outstanding priority needs, as agreed by its Government.
The visit was conducted in accordance with Security Council resolution 2395 (2017), in which the Council underscores the need for CTED and Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOCT to work closely together, within their respective mandates, to ensure balanced implementation of the Global Strategy and the relevant resolutions of the Council.