New UN Counter Terrorism Office Created

The UN General Assembly approved the establishment of a new United Nations office to help Member States implement the Organization’s global counter-terrorism strategy.

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.

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

1. provide leadership on the General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates entrusted to me 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.