Secretary-General Welcomes General Assembly Resolution on New Counter-Terrorism Office, Calling Struggle ‘One of the Highest Priorities’

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General welcomes the adoption today of General Assembly resolution A/71/L.66, which endorsed his proposal to establish a new United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.  The Secretary-General sincerely thanks the President of the General Assembly for facilitating this consensus resolution and Member States for their strong support for his initiative which constitutes a major reform of the United Nations counter-terrorism architecture.

The Secretary-General expects the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre within the new Office of Counter-Terrorism to play a central role in the provision of enhanced capacity-building assistance to Member States.  The Secretary-General expresses appreciation to the role being played by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre Advisory Board in guiding its work, and the growing number of Member States who are contributing to it.

The Secretary-General considers counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism to be one of the highest priorities of the United Nations to address a growing threat to international peace and security.  He therefore hopes that this reform of the United Nations counter-terrorism architecture will contribute to the United Nations’ broader efforts to promote conflict prevention, sustainable peace and development.