ICAO seeks partnership on terrorist’s threats to civil aviation

Th e Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Dr. Fang Liu has stressed the need for the agency and the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to cooperate more eff ectively on mitigating terrorist threats to international civil aviation. At a special meeting convened recently by CTC in New York, Liu said those who can counter the threats should be well prepared to take the appropriate action to deter, detect, and prevent such attacks.” “Foreign terrorist fi ghter movements, landside attacks, threats posed by insiders and airport staff , and the use of increasingly sophisticated improvised explosive devices are all signifi cant concerns. And our expanding reliance on information technology in all areas of aviation – from navigation to communications to security – exposes us to cyber threats,” she said.

UNSC Council Resolution 2309 on Th reats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, aviation security was unanimously adopted by the UNSC in September 2016. It was the fi rst to broadly address international civil aviation security and called upon States to implement eff ective, risk-based measures that mitigate the ever-evolving threat picture. Liu stressed that meeting the objectives of Resolution 2309 requires that States’ Aviation Security authorities have suffi cient access to current threat information. She also noted that additional challenges persist regarding the sharing of threat and risk information internally in many countries, and stressed the importance of new and existing ICAO tools to help address these concerns, such as its Global Aviation Security Plan and Global Risk Context Statement.

“Th e Global Aviation Security Plan and Risk Context Statement, in addition to various supporting ICAO working groups, task forces and security programmes and projects, are all essential elements in addressing the security challenges,” she highlighted. “But, it is important that the highest levels of States’ governments take actions.

Resources must be made available, cooperation must be increased, initiatives must be endorsed, and timelines must be met,” she said. Th e outcomes of this Special Meeting are to be presented to the UN Security Council this coming September. On the margins of the CTC special meeting, Liu met the Ambassador of Egypt, chairman of CTC, and the UNSC’s fi ve permanent member missions of China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States, as well as the deputy minister of transport of the Russian Federation. During the meetings, the secretary general highlighted the work done by ICAO in enhancing aviation security, especially the development of the Global Aviation Security Plan (GASeP). Additionally, she provided updates on Annex 17 – Security and Annex 9 – Facilitation to the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation, which requires States to implement SARPs related to landside security, explosive detection, cybersecurity and Advance Passenger Information (API) system. Th e expansion of the Universal Security Audit Programme was also briefed to the Security Council representatives.

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