The Council of Ministers has authorised the signing and provisional application of an agreement with the United Nations that will enable the opening of an office of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in Madrid next September. The agreement was adopted on a joint proposal from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
According to the agreement, the UNOCT office in Madrid will be responsible for managing and implementing programmes and projects relating to preventing and countering violent extremism, protecting vulnerable targets, promoting and protecting human rights in the fight against terrorism, supporting victims of terrorism, and bilateral and multilateral cooperation, among other areas.
The agreement also establishes that Spain will provide the UN office with a range of administrative and operational support services, make suitable premises available to it and provide the public services necessary for it to carry out its work.
UNOCT was established in 2017 with the aim of improving counter-terrorism coordination among United Nations Member States and raising the profile of the fight against this threat. Since its establishment, it has been headed by Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The idea of establishing a UNOCT programme office in Spain arose during the Global Counterterrorism Forum Coordination Committee meeting held in Málaga in March 2019.
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