Strategic Objective — Security and Facilitation — Aviation Security and Facilitation Assistance and Capacity-building

Aviation Security and Facilitation Assistance and Capacity-Building

To ensure the effective use of limited assistance resources, ICAO continued its efforts to coordinate assistance and capacity-building activities between the Organization and States, other international and regional organizations and industry under the framework of the ICAO Aviation Security Assistance and Capacity-building Strategy. Assistance was prioritized according to risk management principles and States’ expressions of a commitment to improvement. As a result, 17 States were actively engaged in the implementation of an Aviation Security Improvement Plan (ASIP) during 2015.

Pursuant to the Africa-Indian Ocean (AFI) Security/Facilitation (AFI SECFAL) Initiative approved by the ICAO Council in October 2014, the Secretariat developed the Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Security and Facilitation in Africa (AFI SECFAL Plan). It focuses on enhancing sustainable aviation security and air transport facilitation in AFI States. Two Steering Committee meetings were organized by the Secretariat in 2015: the first in Maputo, Mozambique, and the second at ICAO Headquarters in Montréal.

ICAO remained actively involved in facilitating and coordinating the work of regional partnerships, which included supporting the implementation of the Cooperative Aviation Security Programmes in the Middle East and Asia Pacific Regions. Support was also provided to other regional aviation security groups and forums, including the European and North Atlantic (EURNAT) AVSEC Group, the Nineteenth Meeting of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) Security Forum, the ICAO AVSEC Seminar held in Minsk, Belarus, the Asia and Pacific Regional Aviation Security Coordination Forum (RASCF), and the ICAO/Latin American Civil Aviation Conference (LACAC) Aviation Security and Facilitation Regional Group.

Leveraging project management information and information that is now available from the USAP following its transition to a Continuous Monitoring Approach, ICAO continued the development and implementation of aviation security assistance performance indicators. These indicators measure the efficiency and effectiveness of assistance to States.

Efforts to link the needs of States with ICAO expertise and the donor community under the assistance provided to States for the ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Strategy continued to be successful in 2015. A number of significant ICAO TRIP Implementation activities were conducted over the course of the year, including capacity-building initiatives. The Canada-funded project “Strengthening Travel Document Security and Identification Management in the Sahel” continued, with a Regional Seminar taking place in Niamey, Niger in January, and technical assessment missions undertaken in Mali and Tunisia.

ICAO continued to address capacity-building needs in other regions through ongoing project proposals and assistance activities, in cooperation with the Technical Cooperation Bureau.