The Diplomat
The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office (UNOCT) that the United Nations decided to open in Madrid will be operational in September, after the Council of Ministers yesterday authorised, on the proposal of the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, the signing and provisional application of an agreement with the UN.
The idea of establishing an UNOCT regional program office in Spain emerged during the Coordination Committee of the Global Counterterrorism Forum held in Malaga in March 2019 and was discussed by the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the UNOCT Deputy Secretary General, Vladimir Voronkov, in the margins of the High Level International Conference on Human Rights, Civil Society and Counter-Terrorism, organized last May by the UN and the Government of Spain in the same Andalusian city.
The UNOCT headquarters in Madrid, as detailed in the agreement, will be responsible for the management and implementation of programs and projects related to the prevention and fight against violent extremism, the protection of vulnerable targets, the promotion and protection of human rights in the fight against terrorism, support for victims of terrorism and bilateral and multilateral cooperation, among other matters. The agreement also establishes that Spain will provide a series of administrative and operational support services to the UN office, will place at its disposal the appropriate facilities and will provide it with the necessary public services for the performance of its work.
The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office was established on June 15, 2017 by a decision of the United Nations General Assembly. The creation of the Office was the first major institutional reform undertaken by UN Secretary-General António Guterres following his report on the capacity of the United Nations to assist Member States in the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Since its inception it has been headed by Vladimir Voronkov.
