Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Dear colleagues,
Thank you for this opportunity.
UNODC works through our field network of experts on terrorism and all types of crime in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America, delivering seventy percent of projects under the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy's Pillar Three on capacity building.
As the UN Secretariat body mandated to provide legislative assistance, build criminal justice capacities and strengthen judicial and law enforcement cooperation, UNODC has seen increasing demand for such support.
I would like to commend OCT's efforts to promote coherence and synergies to ensure that we as one UN can deliver as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Our Coordination Compact highlights the need for joint fundraising efforts. One-quarter of projects for the Appeal are proposed by UNODC or in cooperation with other UN entities, with an eye to balanced implementation.
Let me briefly present UNODC's main counter-terrorism initiatives.
First, integrating gender for more effective counter-terrorism action. UNODC is mainstreaming gender across criminal justice responses and will work with UN Women on preventing radicalization.
Second, the Boko Haram-affected Lake Chad Basin region. UNODC, together with CTED, is training prosecutors and judges on handling terrorism cases. Urgent funding is required for uninterrupted, sustainable technical assistance.
Third, parliaments. Jointly with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, UNOCT and UNODC would welcome support to the multi-year Initiative to promote parliamentary actions on counter terrorism and prevention of violent extremism.
Fourth, the terrorism-crime nexus. Jointly with UNICRI, we propose to increase awareness about terrorists benefitting from transnational organized crime and to enhance national and regional collaboration between law enforcement and the judiciary, with private sector partners where relevant.
Fifth, cities. With two-thirds of the world population to live in cities by 2030, we seek to strengthen resilience to terrorism. Along with UN partners including UN Habitat, UNDP and UN Women, we propose to develop an innovative Urban Safety Governance Audit tool, with a pilot city in Kenya.
Sixth, security online. With UNOCT, we seek to strengthen the capacity of selected States, especially in Africa, to use special investigation techniques and forensic tools to prevent cyber-terrorism attacks against critical infrastructure, and counter terrorism narratives.
Seventh, borders. In response to Security Council resolution 2396, UNODC is working with UNOCT on a global border security programme which includes cross-border investigations, inter-agency cooperation and capacities against terrorism and related threats, notably through community policing and border community engagement.
Eighth, following the money. To enable Member States to identify and understand the risks of terrorism financing, UNODC, UNOCT and CTED plan to work together to counter the financing of terrorism, producing five sub-regional terrorism financing risk assessments. Coordination will be sought with the IMF, World Bank and FATF-style bodies.
Finally, foreign terrorist fighters. A project focusing on collecting evidence to help suppress this threat will be presented to you by UNODC's Representative for MENA, Ms. Cristina Albertin, later today.
I welcome your consideration for these initiatives to support Member States in preventing and countering diverse terrorism threats, responding to key strategic priorities as set out by the GA and Security Council.
I am grateful to our partners in these endeavours, and I thank Member States and all donors for their political, financial, expert and in-kind support for UNODC.
We will continue to deliver to the standards you expect from us.
Thank you.