Pakistan was appointed Vice-Chair of the UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) for 2025 by consensus, not by defeating India
A post claiming that Pakistan has been elected Vice-President of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Security Council by defeating India in the elections with 38 votes to 18 is going viral on social media platforms (here, here, and here). This article fact-checks the claims made in these posts.
Claim: By defeating India with 38 votes to 18, Pakistan has been elected Vice-President of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Security Council.
Fact: The claim that Pakistan was appointed Vice-Chair of the UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) by defeating India is incorrect. On 04 June 2025, Pakistan was appointed Vice-Chair of the CTC for the year 2025, alongside France and Russia, while Algeria assumed the role of Chair. This appointment was made through consensus among the members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), not by defeating India. The positions of Chair and Vice-Chair of the UN Security Council’s subsidiary bodies — including committees such as the Counter-Terrorism Committee — are typically filled among UNSC members through consensus among the 15 Security Council members (both permanent and non-permanent), rather than through competitive elections or voting contests between countries. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On 04 June 2025, Pakistan was appointed Vice-Chair of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) for the year 2025. This committee was established by UNSC Resolution 1373 (2001), which was unanimously adopted on 28 September 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States (here, here, here, and here).
Pakistan has also been appointed Chair of the UNSC’s 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee, Co-Chair of the Informal Working Group (IWG) on Documentation and Working Methods, and Co-Chair of the newly established IWG on Sanctions for 2025. For 2025, Algeria currently holds the Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, while Pakistan, along with France and Russia, will serve as Vice-Chairs (here).
Pakistan is currently serving as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2025–2026 term (here, here). The positions of Chair and Vice-Chair of the UN Security Council’s subsidiary bodies — including committees such as the Counter-Terrorism Committee — are typically filled among UNSC members through consensus among the 15 members of the Security Council (both permanent and non-permanent), rather than through competitive elections or voting contests between countries (here, here, here, here, and here).
During its most recent term (2021–2022) as a non-permanent member, India chaired the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee for 2022. It also served as Chair of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee and the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee of the Security Council for two years (2021–2022) (here).
For context, in November 2023, Pakistan secured the position of Vice-Chairperson of the UNESCO Executive Board for 2023-2025 by defeating India in an election, receiving 38 votes to India’s 18. Of the 58-member Executive Board, 38 members voted in favour of Pakistan’s representative, 18 voted for India’s representative, and two countries abstained (here, here, and here). The Executive Board is one of the three constitutional organs of UNESCO, a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) dedicated to promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information. The other two organs are the General Conference and the Secretariat (here, here, and here).
To sum it up, the claim that Pakistan was appointed Vice-Chair of the UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) by defeating India is incorrect. Pakistan’s appointment was made through a UNSC consensus, not through a vote or contest with India.