Management

The Executive Director of the UNCCT is the Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov. He is supported by the Director of UNOCT, Dr. Jehangir Khan, in the management of the Centre.

UNCCT is guided by an Advisory Board, which is chaired by Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations.

Executive Director

Mr. Vladimir Voronkov was appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism on 21 June 2017, established by General Assembly resolution 71/291.

Mr. Voronkov brings to the position more than 30 years of experience within the Foreign Service of the Russian Federation, working primarily on United Nations affairs, with responsibilities ranging from public diplomacy and social and economic development issues to intergovernmental affairs.

Prior to his appointment, he was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna. Under his leadership, the Permanent Mission launched several flagship projects with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and developed successful collaborations with the UNODC Antiterrorist Branch. Mr. Voronkov also served on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during which time he led several delegations of the Russian Federation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Prior to serving in Vienna, Mr. Voronkov was Director of the Department of European Cooperation (2008-2011), during which time he served as the Head of the Russian Delegation during the Russia-European Union negotiations on the visa-free regime (2010-2011). He started his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1989 and has served in various capacities, among them as Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna (2005-2008), Deputy Director of the Personnel Department (2002-2005) and Minister Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Russian Embassy to Poland (2000-2002).

Mr. Voronkov holds a PhD from Moscow State University. He has authored various scientific publications on international issues.

Chairman of the Advisory Board

The Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on 2 August 2022. Prior to his latest appointment, Mr. Al-Wasil served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, since November 2016.

Since joining the Diplomatic Service, Mr. Al-Wasil has focused primarily on multilateral and human rights affairs, areas in which he has extensive experience. He served as Deputy Head of Mission at Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in London for more than three years. He was also assigned to Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Australia.

Having begun his career as a college lecturer, Mr. Al-Wasil has had several articles on social and political issues published in both Arabic and English.

Mr. Al-Wasil holds a doctorate in international relations, a master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in Arabic language and literature.

Director of UNCCT

Mr. Mauro Miedico is the Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the Office of Counter-Terrorism.

Mr. Miedico currently serves as Director of the United Nations Counter Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), and OiC of the Special Projects and Innovation Branch (SPIB) of the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT). In his current position, he oversees a variety of counter terrorism technical assistance initiatives and programmes. He also provides strategic programmatic expert advice to the USG on complex operational issues. 

Mr. Miedico is a current member of the Working Group on Metaverse Governance and of the Augmented Reality Working Group of the World Economic Forum. In the past, he chaired the working groups on countering financing of terrorism and on legal and criminal justice responses to terrorism, of the Global Counter Terrorism Coordination Compact.

Prior to joining UNOCT, Mr. Miedico worked for 15 years at the Terrorism Prevention Branch of UNODC, including as its director (2016-2018). He has undertaken more than a hundred technical assistance missions and has chaired a large number of regional or sub-regional conferences and workshops, providing technical advice to dozens of countries on counter-terrorism issues.

He has been working with the United Nations since 1996, in the United States, Austria, Haiti, Serbia, Sierra Leone, and Colombia, holding different positions as Legal Advisor with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and with the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT). Mr. Miedico has particularly worked in the field of justice reform and as an advisor to a number of governments on criminal justice and on preventing and countering terrorism. 

Mr. Mauro Miedico is an Italian attorney at law with post-graduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Italy, and at Ecole Nationale d’ Administration (ENA) in France.