The Diplomat
The Spanish authorities conveyed Spain’s support for the work of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTED) during a visit to Spain last week by its Executive Director, Natalia Gherman.
Gherman, who was appointed to the post by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in March, led a delegation of some fifteen people representing CTED and other UN, international and regional organisations on a visit that was coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and took place throughout the week.
The delegation visited the Ministries of the Interior and Justice, as well as different strategic centres, such as the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), the General Information Commissariat of the National Police and the Information Headquarters of the Civil Guard. He also visited the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, met with the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, and met with various civil society organisations.
During these visits, the members of the delegation, who were accompanied by diplomats from the Permanent Representation of Spain to the United Nations, had the opportunity to meet with the main institutions in charge of the fight against terrorism in our country, as well as with victims of terrorism.
Thus, Natalia Gherman met with the State Secretary for Security, Rafael Pérez, who conveyed Spain’s full commitment to complying with the Security Council resolutions on terrorism, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Also present at the meeting were the Director of the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), Manuel Navarrete, and the Deputy Director General for International Police Cooperation of the Ministry of the Interior, Almudena Tudanca.
The State ecretary for Security told the CTED delegation that the fight against terrorism and violent radicalisation will be one of the priorities of the Ministry of the Interior during the Spanish Presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year.
Rafael Pérez said that Spain will promote the strengthening of existing European structures for the protection of victims of terrorism and will promote the permanent establishment of a European Centre for Advice for Victims of Terrorism, among other measures.
On support for victims of terrorism, Pérez recalled the participation of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in the inaugural session of the United Nations World Congress on Victims of Terrorism, which brought together government representatives, victims of terrorism from all over the world, as well as academics and experts in the field, last September in New York. Grande-Marlaska offered the UN to host the second edition of this international event.
During the meeting, Pérez and Gherman also discussed the activities of the delegation of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, opened in Madrid following the agreement signed in June 2022 in New York between Spain and the UN. The office is responsible, among other matters, for the management and implementation of programmes and projects related to the prevention and fight against violent extremism, the protection of vulnerable targets, support for victims of terrorism and bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
