Participation of the PABSEC International Secretariat in the UNOCT Programme Office on Parliamentary Engagement Opening Ceremony, 16 June 2021
Mr. Daniel Dulca, PABSEC Deputy Secretary General, attended the UNOCT Programme Office on Parliamentary Engagement Opening Ceremony, on 16 June 2021.
The event took place in hybrid format, both online and in Doha, with the participation of Member States, including representatives of their Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York, parliamentary assemblies, international and regional organizations, as well as the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities.
The UNOCT Programme Office aims at fostering the collaboration with parliamentarians and multilateral parliamentary assemblies to address the scourge of terrorism. It will serve as a platform for research, knowledge, capacity - building and coordination for parliaments from all over the world, while promoting innovation and partnerships in a human rights-compliant and gender-responsive manner. The activities of the Office will be coordinated with relevant United Nations entities, as well as multilateral parliamentary assemblies, regional and international organizations, civil society, research and academic institutions.
The ceremony was opened by the Speaker of the Shura Council of the State of Qatar, H.E. Mr. Ahmad bin Abdulla bin Zaid Al Mahmoud and by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter - Terrorism, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov.
The hybrid event included remarks from H.E. Mr. Duarte Pacheco, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; H.E. Mr. Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; H.E. Mr. Gennaro Migliore, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM); Mr. Reinhold Lopatka, Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism; Mr. Dmitriy Kobitskiy, Secretary-General of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States; Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme; Ms. Ghada Fathi Waly, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; and Ms. Michèle Coninsx, Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate.
In their interventions, the participants stressed that is a growing recognition of the important roles that parliaments play in countering and preventive measures to terrorism and violent extremism. There is also a strong demand from parliamentarians, for a greater understanding of their roles and of the ways to complement executive branch actions.
The Shura Council of the State of Qatar will provide a $12.5 million contribution to UNOCT for a period of five years, as well as premises and operational support for the Programme Office. The UNOCT will manage the work of the Programme Office and administer its activities.