Note to Correspondents

Secretary-General to Launch Portal Intended to Support Victims of Terrorism

During General Assembly Interactive Dialogue at Headquarters, 11 June

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will launch the first Victims of Terrorism Support Portal, prior to the General Assembly’s high-level “Interactive Dialogue on Addressing Conditions Conducive to the Spread of Terrorism”, to be held on 11 June.

Two United Nations staff members who were victims of terrorism will speak at the event, to be held in the Trusteeship Council Chamber from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m, under the aegis of the President of the General Assembly, John William Ashe ( Antigua and Barbuda).  The opening session will be broadcast live at http://webtv.un.org.

Several visiting leaders from Member States will also take part.  They include: Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey; Jerome Bougouma, Minister for Territorial Administration and Security of Burkina Faso; Hasan Kleib, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia; Gonzalo de Benito Secades, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain; Pereira Ame Silima, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs of the United Republic of Tanzania; and Jeffery Feltman, Under-Secretary-General, Political Affairs and Chairman, Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.

The Support Portal, designed by the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office, is a broad-based, apolitical resource that aims to serve as a hub for information on issues relating to victims of terrorism; to help rehabilitate victims by providing them and their families with the appropriate resources; and to express international solidarity with the victims and raise awareness of national and international efforts to support them, in order to highlight the importance of including them in all counter-terrorism work.

Given the complexity of the Support Portal, and the challenges of creating such a tool, its development is an ongoing process entailing such key elements as the “UN Action” section, detailing United Nations milestone actions in support of terrorism victims, and a “Support Resources” section that will provide information and links to Governments efforts in that field, as well as information on various pertinent documents, events and news.  Additionally, it contains a directory of relevant organizations working on victims of terrorism, ranging from inter-governmental to civil society organizations, and an “About Us” section describing the work of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force and the Working Group on Highlighting and Supporting Victims of Terrorism.

The Portal is being developed in cooperation with the Web Services Section of the Department of Public Information, using the most advanced technology, taking accessibility, security measures as well as United Nations web standards into account.

At 9.30 a.m., before the launch, Jehangir Khan, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office, will make a presentation on the Support Portal.

For more information, please contact Valerie Mainil-Varlet, Department of Public Information, at tel.: +1 212 963 3226; e-mail:  mainil-varlet@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record