The Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) phenomenon is increasingly becoming a global security threat. Individuals are being lured from communities worldwide to join terrorist groups, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda. Those who return to their countries of origin pose greater security risks of carrying out violent attacks in their home territory. The Passenger Controls initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of Customs administrations to prevent the movement of FTFs and other individuals supporting terrorism across international borders. The initiative focuses on the utilization of Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) within administrations to improve and develop risk analysis and targeting methods for effective passenger control.
Customs’ passenger assessment functions are increasingly being driven by the use of pre-arrival and pre-departure information. The World Customs Organization (WCO), together with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), crafted the first Advance Passenger Information (API) Guidelines in 1993. These Guidelines, which are continuously updated by the WCO/IATA/ICAO API/PNR Contact Committee, have enabled Customs administrations to pursue more effective risk management practices using API and PNR data.
API has proven to be a very useful tool for Customs that have implemented passenger targeting as part of their risk management suite of tools. Similarly, API transmission has allowed Customs administrations to apply different types of risk profiles to facilitate risk-based decision-making. However, due to the ever-growing number of travellers moving across borders, the requirements and demands relating to Customs’ passenger assessment functions have increased. WCO Members have increasingly been looking at other types of information streams to further support enforcement activities, as well as the additional benefit of facilitating passengers that do not pose a terrorist threat at borders.
Passenger Name Record (PNR) information has become a key information source which Customs administrations use as part of the arriving and departing air passenger risk assessment. PNR can provide a wealth of additional information about a traveller’s journey when used in conjunction with API, and provides Customs with better means of preventing and detecting smuggling of all types of contraband whilst also promoting a more effective means of detecting other high risks, such as foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), as stipulated in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2178 and 2396.
In September 2022, the WCO signed an Arrangement on Cooperation (AoC) with the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) with the objective to develop a partnership within the United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel (UN CTT) Programme. The WCO is supporting the capacity-building bloc of the Programme that aims at leveraging API and PNR data in compliance with the requirements of the United Nations Security Council resolutions 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017), and 2482 (2019), ICAO standards and recommended practices, and other international law obligations, relevant privacy laws, and human rights principles.
Online e-learning on the WCO CLiKC! Platform is also available for Customs officers who wish to learn more about passenger interdiction at airports. This online learning is accessible from the home administration and can be completed by officers on their own.