Eduardo González
Vitoria-Gasteiz will host the International Conference on Victims of Terrorism on October 8 and 9, sponsored by the United Nations under the motto “Education as an instrument for prevention, peace building and the empowerment of victims of terrorism” and in which the King will speak Felipe VI, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
The conference will be a continuation of the first Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism, held in September 2022 at the UN headquarters in New York and in which Spain proposed the creation of a United Nations Trust Fund for victims. In addition, Vitoria has hosted the Memorial Centre for Victims of Terrorism since 2021, dedicated to those affected by terrorism in Spain.
The meeting, jointly organised by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Interior and the City Council of Vitoria, will show its “solidarity with all victims of terrorism around the world, regardless of religion, nationality or ethnicity” and will review the progress on the international agenda since the first congress was held in New York in 2022, when Spain took over, according to a press release from the Foreign Ministry.
The King will speak tomorrow, Tuesday, in the High Level Segment of the Conference. At the same session, Albares, Grande-Marlaska and, via videoconference from the UN, the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Office for Combating Terrorism, Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov, will speak, along with representatives of the victims present at the International Conference.
In addition, during the two days of the meeting, panels and side events will be held in which victims of terrorism, associations of victims, experts and political and diplomatic representatives from fifty countries will participate. The International Conference will close with a Victims’ Tribute Ceremony in which tribute will be paid to all those who have lost their lives in terrorist acts. Among those attending the event is the Vice President of Argentina, Victoria Villarruel, which will make her the first senior official from Javier Milei’s government to travel to Spain since the outbreak of the bilateral crisis between the two countries at the end of May, diplomatic sources told The Diplomat.
The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, established on 15 June 2017 by decision of the United Nations General Assembly, has a headquarters in Madrid, inaugurated in June 2023 and focused on the protection of vulnerable targets, the prevention of violent extremism, the promotion and protection of human rights and support for victims of terrorism. The office also facilitates bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism and takes advantage of “Spain’s experience and good practices in the fight against terrorism, to help implement these programs in beneficiary countries,” according to the Government.
The creation of UNOCT was the first major institutional reform undertaken by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, following his report on the United Nations’ capacity to assist Member States in implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Since its inception, it has been headed by the Russian Vladimir Voronkov.
