UN – Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set to appoint a Moscow envoy in Vienna to head a newly created UN Office of Counter-terrorism, officials and diplomats said on Wednesday.
Russia’s Ambassador to International Organisations in Vienna, Vladimir Voronkov, told Reuters he met with Guterres on Tuesday and an announcement on the appointment is expected this week, officials and diplomats said.
“Countering terrorism is one of the things that most countries can work with Russia on,” said a senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We have very different views on what counts as a terrorist and what counts as an appropriate response to terrorism from Russia, but at least it’s a discussion we can have more easily than we can have on political affairs or peacekeeping,” the diplomat said.
Nationals from four of the five veto-wielding powers on the UN Security Council, the UN, Britain, France and China, have for the past decade held senior UN posts at the world body’s headquarters in New York.
An American heads UN political affairs, a French man has run peacekeeping, a Brit has been in charge of humanitarian affairs, and a Chinese national has run economic and social affairs.
For the past seven years a Russian has headed the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
“It is fair to say that the Russians are under-represented at the UN at the most senior levels. On the whole they have put forward incredibly poor candidates for very senior jobs,” the senior Western diplomat said.
The 193-member UN General Assembly approved the creation of a UN Office on Counter-terrorism on June 15, which will help states implement a global counter-terrorism strategy adopted by the General Assembly in 2006.
The strategy, which has been reviewed every two years, aims to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, measures to prevent and combat terrorism, build states’ capacity to do so, and ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law as the basis for the fight.
NAN reports that the office would provide leadership on the General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates entrusted to the Secretary-General from across the UN system.
Others are to enhance coordination and coherence across the 38 Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force entities to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of : strengthening the delivery of UN counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance to Member States.
Others are improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts; and ensure that due priority is given to counterterrorism across the UN system and that the important work on preventing violent extremism is firmly rooted in the Strategy.
