Fostering Regional Cooperation to Support the Detection of Terrorists and other Criminals Using Passenger Data: First Meeting of the Southern Africa Regional Informal Working Group

The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), through its flagship Countering Terrorist Travel (‘CT Travel’) Programme, organized a two-day Informal Working Group (IWG) meeting for 34 delegates representing law enforcement, counter-terrorism, security, and civil aviation agencies from 11 countries in the Southern African region, on the 24th of November in Gaborone, Botswana.

The regional IWG on the use of Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, which was virtually launched on 30 June 2022, aims to foster regional cooperation and coordination to support the detection of terrorists and other criminals.

A day prior to the regional IWG meeting, UNOCT and the Government of Botswana officially inaugurated the national Passenger Information Unit (PIU), which becomes the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to establish its PIU with the support of CT Travel Programme.

The Southern Africa regional IWG was established as a mechanism to support Member States in the region to implement UN Security Council Resolutions 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017), and 2482 (2019) by providing a forum to exchange best practices and lessons regarding the collection and use of passenger data.

“A Southern African region free of terrorism counts on cooperation and information sharing between member states and to leverage technical assistance from the United Nations Office of the Counter Terrorism to harness real-time information on the movement of Foreign Terrorist Fighters. It is through the generous support of UN Counter Terrorism Travel Programme that members will enhance their detection capacity against Foreign Terrorist Fighters and serious criminals”, said H.E. Brigadier (Rtd.) Peter Fana Magosi, Director General at the Directorate of Intelligence and Security of Botswana, who hosted the meeting and who serves as the inaugural rotation chair of the IWG.

The regional IWG aims to foster cooperation and the exchange of information among participating Member States based on reciprocity or mutual agreement, following commonly agreed principles and rules. The end goal is to ensure that Member States share a common language and have access to a forum for peer-to-peer support and learning. Many countries within the region, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, and Tanzania have seen terrorist threats significantly increase over the past years, posing a grave challenge to security and stability. 

The IWG meeting allowed participants to gain a better understanding of the efforts being made by Member States across the region through discussions on existing API and PNR capabilities and challenges in establishing operational systems. The European Union (EU) has provided financial support to establish the regional IWG and its regional cooperation framework on passenger data serves as the role model for the initiative. 

Ms. Christine Bradley, Chief of Countering Terrorist Travel Section at UNOCT, emphasized the importance of ensuring cross-border partnerships for countering terrorism and noted that this is the first meeting of the Southern Africa IWG, joining a global initiative of IWGs. "Down the line, we will aim to have combined global IWG meetings to support and strengthen information sharing between regions. The importance of regional cooperation and information exchange towards our collective efforts to counter terrorism and trans-national organized crime cannot be under-stated", she added.

Key points of discussion at the meeting included legal frameworks, operational modalities for the establishment of Passenger Information Units, engagement and connectivity with the transport industry, technology and innovation, and technical assistance available to support the Member States to strengthen their detection capacities, including through the CT Travel Programme.

“I would like to congratulate the Government of Botswana for hosting the first in-person meeting of the Informal Working Group for southern Africa. This will afford the countries a platform for dialogue, exchange of good practices, and lessons learned which can serve as means to foster mutual trust and regional cooperation to prevent the travel of known and unknown terrorists and serious criminals using passenger data to enhance national and border security”, said United Nations in Botswana Resident Coordinator, Mr. Zia Choudhury.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Clément Boutillier, Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Botswana and SADC, concluded that “The EU and its partners are committed to strengthening counter-terrorism policies and actions in Southern Africa and the broader Indian Ocean. In the EU we are delighted to share experiences that have worked for us with our partner countries. In this regard, we are glad that the UN-EU Countering Terrorist Travel Partnership Programme allows for such exchanges and is contributing to make the world a safer and more peaceful place.”