Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Michèle Coninsx, and Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) conducted joint high-level consultations with the Government of the Philippines in Manila from 1 to 3 March 2020.
The high-level visit aimed to, inter alia, learn about the current and evolving terrorist threat, identify progress made in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and relevant Security Council resolutions and related international standards; and to exchange views on remaining challenges and areas in which the Philippines might benefit from receiving technical assistance in accordance with the priority needs identified by the Counter-Terrorism Committee pursuant to its follow-up visit of October 2019.
The consultations included meetings with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs; the National Security Adviser; the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government; the Presidential Adviser of 国产AV, Reconciliation; and the Unity Secretary; senior officials of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Anti-Terrorism Council (Programme Management Centre), the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the 国产AV Process; the Anti-Money-Laundering Council; the Secretary of Justice; the Vice Chair of the Anti-Terrorism Council and Task Force; civil society organizations, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, and representatives of the United Nations Country Team.
The joint high-level consultations provided a vital opportunity for UNOCT and CTED to explore further areas of cooperation with the Government of the Philippines, particularly in the context of strengthening the Philippines’ criminal justice response to counter terrorism, the importance of gender, age-sensitive, and human rights compliance in counterterrorism efforts, support for the Philippines’ participation in the UN Countering Terrorist Travel Programme (CTTP) and the Strengthening Resilience against Violent Extremism ASIA Project (STRIVE Asia).
CTED will continue to work with the Government of the Philippines and UNOCT to define specific UNOCT-supported projects to address the Philippines’ outstanding priority needs, as agreed by its Government.
The visit was conducted in accordance with Security Council resolution 2395 (2017), in which the Council underscores the need for CTED and UNOCT to work closely together, within their respective mandates, to ensure balanced implementation of the Global Strategy and the relevant resolutions of the Council.