The Secretary-General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Dr. Fang Liu, on 23 June 2016 briefed the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) on ICAO’s policies, programmes, and priorities in the field of security and counter-terrorism. Civil aviation remains a target for terrorist attacks and can be exploited by terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters (FTF), for their travels.
Dr. Liu explained that the attacks at Brussels Airport on 22 March 2016, and the events which followed, were a tragic reminder of the enormous challenges faced in securing public areas; the inseparability of aviation security and national security; the economic and social consequences of terrorism; and the historic resilience of civil aviation.
She also stressed that effective aviation security requires strong political commitment at the State level to decide policies, adequately fund programmes, set targets, and achieve results. And there is need for increasing the level and sources of assistance support.
ICAO’s mandate in the areas of preventing unlawful interference with civil aviation and facilitation of the clearance of aircrafts, people, and goods across international air borders intersects with the mandate of the Committee and its Executive Directorate (CTED) in assessing, facilitating and promoting implementation by UN Member States of Security Council resolutions 1373 and 2178.Concrete examples for cross-fertilization of the mandates and activities of ICAO and the CTC/CTED include: (i) cooperation in assisting Member States in the effective implementation of the relevant international regulatory frameworks, including through (facilitation of) technical assistance and capacity building where needed; (ii) ensuring the issuance of legitimate – and machine-readable – travel documents, and promoting measures to prevent counterfeiting, forgery of fraudulent use of travel documents to prevent the movement of terrorists and FTFs, including through the promotion of ICAO’s Public Key Directory (PKD) enabling States to access and validate data stored on ePassports; (iii) rapidly increasing the numbers of Member States requiring airlines to implement advance passenger information (API) systems as required by resolution 2178 and in view of API becoming an international Standard in Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention, including through partnering, together with the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), other entities of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), and other international and regional organizations, in a series of regional workshops on raising awareness and capacity building to enhance API implementation.