On 25 January 2018, H.E. Gustavo Meza-Cuadra Velásquez, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Peru to the United Nations, chaired his first meeting of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC). In the meeting, which marked this year’s initial CTC plenary, Ambassador Meza-Cuadra Velásquez outlined the Committee’s priorities for the year. This followed his election as Chair of the Committee, a role he assumed on 1 January 2018.
“In my capacity as Chair of the CTC, my presidency intends to be pragmatic and action-oriented. We will do our utmost effort to make sure that the Committee has a strong impact on the ground, in close coordination with the relevant entities of the organization,” stressed Ambassador Meza-Cuadra Velásquez.
Priorities mentioned include enhancing the coordination and coherence of counter-terrorism efforts within the UN and outside; identifying and combatting connections between terrorism and transnational organized crime; and ensuring proper follow-up to analyses and recommendations stemming from expert assessments made by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).
On the agenda for the meeting were the draft CTC programme of work, CTED’s suggested country visits for 2018, as well as a list of regional and thematic briefings and events for CTC/CTED throughout the year.
As of 2018, C?te d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, the Netherlands, and Poland joined the CTC alongside Peru.
The Counter-Terrorism Committee was established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1373 in 2001, which requested that Member States implement a number of measures to counter terrorist activities at home, in their regions, and globally. CTED is a United Nations Special Political Mission, tasked with assisting the CTC and the Security Council at large to monitor, facilitate, and promote the implementation of resolutions 1373 (2001), 1624 (2005), 2178 (2014), and other relevant counter-terrorism resolutions.