The UN Countering Terrorist Travel Programme* has conducted virtual deep-dive assessment missions for Sierra Leone and the Gambia, respectively, to assess their capacities in the areas of passenger data exchange and countering terrorism.
The virtual missions were conducted from 14 to 17 September 2020 and from 5 to 8 October 2020, respectively, as part of a series of assessment missions being led by CTED under the Programme’s “All-of-UN” initiative (which is being implemented by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in partnership with CTED, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)).
The purpose of the two missions was to gain an in-depth understanding of the two States’ capacities to utilize advance passenger information (API) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) in order to detect and identify foreign terrorist fighters and other serious criminals and prevent them from crossing international air borders, in accordance with Security Council resolutions 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017) and 2482 (2019).
Since becoming a Programme partner, CTED has led nine “All-of-UN” deep-dive assessment missions. Following each mission, CTED and the other Programme partners use the findings to develop a national API/PNR implementation road map for the Member State concerned. The road map sets out all the steps needed to implement API/PNR and also includes tailored recommendations on how the State concerned can implement each step in full compliance with the requirements of the above resolutions and other relevant international standards and obligations. It also details specific technical assistance needs that can be met by the Programme.
*The UN Countering Terrorist Travel Programme is co-funded by contributions from Australia, Japan, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of India, the State of Qatar, the United States of America, and the European Union.