10 June 2022, Naples –The Second Counter-Terrorism Coordination Meeting of Parliamentary Assemblies takes place today in the beautiful city of Naples in Italy. The event is co-organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), and the Shura Council of the State of Qatar, and it is kindly hosted at the historical Castel Dell’Ovo by the Municipality of Naples.
Recalling that national and international Parliaments have a crucial role in supporting the implementation of international counter-terrorism obligations at their country and regional level, and as a result of the significant increase of requests from parliaments for capacity building in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism (CT&PVE), the need for better coordination and coherence in both law and policy-making, and technical assistance delivery has become evident and essential.
Today’s event follows the First Coordination Meeting, which took place last December, in Doha, when PAM proposed the establishment of a light coordination mechanism that would see coordinating presidency on the group on a rotation basis for each of the Parliamentary Assemblies, with UNOCT acting as an administrative secretariat to support the chairmanship, facilitating its work, and ensuring continuity and institutional memory.
PAM President, Hon. Gennaro Migliore, delivered the opening remarks, together with H.E. Mr. Saad bin Ahmed Elmesned, Member of the Shura Council of the State of Qatar; Mr. Mauro Miedico, Deputy Director of the United Nation Counter-Terrorism Centre of the UNOTC; and Mr. Antonio De Iesu, Councilor of the city of Naples for Legality and Municipal Police.
Among the participating Parliamentary Assemblies, there are: the Arab Parliament, the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, the African Parliamentary Union, the Andean Parliament, the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
The event offers a unique opportunity for participants to identify and discuss priority thematic areas and geographic focus for joint initiatives; adopt the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Joint Strategic Coordination Mechanism; and nominate a Parliamentary Assembly for the first presidency term.