UNOCT to support establishment of global parliamentary network

(Continued from Page 1) Al Mahmoud said the office will support the establishment of a global parliamentary network, creation and maintenance of a web platform, and production of materials, publications and multimedia resources to support activities to prevent and combat terrorism. He announced the launch of work in the ‘Office of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Program on Parliamentary Participation in Preventing and Combating Terrorism’, stressing that the office will receive all support to carry out its tasks and become a forum for all parliamentarians committed to combating and preventing terrorism. He praised the efforts of Vladimir Voronkov, undersecretary-general of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism at the UN, and his great and fruitful work in establishing this office to serve the objectives of the UN in general and the field of combating terrorism in particular. He also praised the efforts of Duarte Pacheco, president of the Parliamentary Union, the international community which supported the initiative to establish the office since its inception and has been keen to continue cooperation for the success of the office’s work and implementation of its tasks. For his part, Voronkov praised the efforts of Qatar and its leadership in combating terrorism. He expressed his thanks and appreciation to HH the Amir for his strong support to the efforts to combat terrorism. In his speech, he reviewed the role of the office, saying it will provide a package of technical support and capacity building programmes, assist parliamentarians in their efforts, build partnerships with UN institutions, promote evidence-based research, and empower women and youth. He said the office will start developing programmes that will contribute to achieving its goals. He said there is increasing recognition of the important roles that parliaments play in combating terrorism and violent extremism and in taking preventive measures, and there is also a strong demand from parliamentarians to increase understanding of their roles and provide them with ways to complete the measures taken by the executive authority in this regard.