UN Wants $373,200 Funding for New Counter-Terrorism Office - Despite No UN Definition of "Terrorism"

The United Nations wants to spend $373,200 from the UN's regular budget on a newly created "Office of Counter-Terrorism," despite having no definition of the terrorism it is supposed to counter. The UN has been unable to define terrorism because Arab and Muslim states argue that any definition of terrorism must exclude "armed struggle" for "liberation and self-determination", thereby legitimizing attacks against certain civilians.

A draft resolution in the General Assembly to create the new office was submitted by the President of the General Assembly on May 1, 2017 and has yet to be scheduled for a vote. On June 2, 2017, the General Assembly's Budget Committee determined that the new office would require $373,200 in funds from the UN's regular budget. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres first put forward the proposal to create the new office in February.

The new office would simply merge two existing UN "counter-terrorism" entities - the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre - with some modifications to their mandates. A new "Under-Secretary-General" position would also be created, which is expected to be filled by Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.