QNA
New York
UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism and Head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) Vladimir Voronkov has praised Qatar’s efforts to support the work of the UNOCT in countering terrorism, stating that Qatar is the only country that supports all three pillars of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office mandate, which are politics, coordination and the capacity-building activities and technical assistance of the member states.
In his exclusive statements to Qatar News Agency (QNA) in New York, Voronkov pointed out that cooperation with Qatar is strategic and innovative, where the threat of terrorism is discussed on a global scale during the strategic dialogues.
He said the two offices established in Doha came within the implementation mechanisms, explaining that one of these offices is concerned with behavioural insights while the second is concerned with parliamentary engagement, which means that the most difficult parts of the counterterrorism agenda, rehabilitation and reintegration, are based on scientific results which are implemented through programmatic activities in various countries.
Qatar continues to assume its responsibility as an active partner of the international community, with an active role in maintaining security, supporting international efforts for counterterrorism and taking the necessary measures to defeat terrorism and extremism through bilateral and regional multilateral cooperation with concerned countries and institutions, he said.
"Counterterrorism comes within the main priorities of Qatar’s national, regional and international policy. One of the concrete steps taken by Qatar to combat terrorism is signing an agreement with the UNOCT in December 2018 to establish a United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism in Doha. Following this, Qatar and the UNOCT held the first strategic dialogue at the UN headquarters in March 2019,” he said.
Voronkov pointed out that the Doha Office has done concrete work as it drafts model legislative provisions on many parts of the counterterrorism agenda.
He added that Counter-Terrorism Office has new programmatic activities such as sports security, as the world is preparing for the most important and popular sporting event - the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
"Counter-Terrorism Office is working closely with different Qatari agencies on sports security issues,” he said.