United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED)

Countering the scourge of terrorism has been on the agenda of the United Nations for decades. In the aftermath of the 11 September attacks against the United States in 2001, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1373 (2001), which for the first time established a dedicated Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the Council. The CTC is assisted by an Executive Directorate (CTED), which carries out its policy decisions and conducts expert assessments of the 193 United Nations Member States. As of September 2024, CTED has conducted more than 205 visits to over 119 United Nations Member States (including 11 virtual components of the hybrid visits during the COVID-19 period and 2 full hybrid visits), since it was declared operational 19 years earlier. Over 20 Security Council resolutions exist that pertain to the CTC and CTED, an overwhelming majority of which were adopted over the last seven years, which demonstrate the complexity of the evolution of the threat of terrorism which prompted the Security Council to adopt resolutions outlining new measures for Member States to undertake in order to effectively counter the emerging threats of terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters, CTED’s mandate was most recently renewed by Security Council resolution 2617 (2021), which extends the Special Political Mission until 31 December 2025. This resolution underscores that CTED’s assessments, and the analysis and recommendations from those assessments, are an invaluable aid to Member States in identifying and addressing gaps in implementation and capacity, and calls on the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), all other relevant United Nations funds and programmes, Member States, donors, and recipients to use these expert assessments in their development of technical assistance and capacity- building projects. The resolution further underlines the essential role of CTED within the United Nations to identify and assess issues, trends, and developments.