Photo: Neptuul/Wikimedia Commons
Top officials tasked with spearheading counterterrorism in their countries will be meeting at UN Headquarters in New York next week for the first time, to pool expertise, resources and ideas to fight back against the growing scourge of international terrorism, the world body said Thursday.
The United Nations’ Office of Counter-Terrorism formed last year reflects the collective concern on the threat of terror.
Under-Secretary-General of the Office of Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, says defeating terror groups such as ISIL, otherwise known as Dae’sh, which has been mostly driven out of Iraq in the past year, must involve “the family level – the level of local communities, the level of State, and the level of international cooperation. Only this kind of approach can be comprehensive.”
Civil society representatives and experts in the field will be joining “the majority of heads of agencies from all around the world” said Mr. Voronkov; which was vital to ensure a united front on how best to move forward, and build resilience.
“It’s important to have capacity-building projects,” said the UN counter-terrorism chief, adding that it would be a major help to countries which need help to expel terrorist groups, and shut down terror cells, “to build this resilient environment.”
“So I think after the defeat of ISIL, the building up of this resilient society, the resilient State; this is the main task for counter-terrorism activities,” he says.
