The ICAO Council designated 2021 as the Year of Security Culture (YOSC) by ICAO Council. Consistent with the global effort to ensure the success of the YOSC, the ICAO APAC Office is participating and supporting in a series of activities delivered or planned by APAC Member States and stakeholders to promote Security Culture and to re-iterate and emphasize the importance of aviation security mindfulness and awareness. APAC States, large and small, have stepped up to the call and joined this global effort.
ICAO is delighted to share examples of such efforts in our APAC Newsletter. This work ranges from large-scale events such as the Australia-Indonesia kick-off campaign “Leading the Enhancement of Aviation Security Culture Project”, organized by the Director-General of Civil Aviation of Indonesia at both the national and airport levels and which attracted more than 1000 participants (mainly virtually), to smaller-scale events such as the Security Culture and Awareness workshop and participation initiated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Solomon Islands to its aviation community.
Moreover, the ICAO APAC Office has also supported to this end the economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the virtual event “Building a Culture of Security and Countering the Insider Risk” organized by the APEC Secretariat. The APAC Regional Office will continue to support such activities throughout the region and if States or airports would like to request ICAO’s participation, we encourage you to contact the Regional Office. In addition, the new ICAO Security Culture Workshop will soon be conducted at some of the ICAO Aviation Security Training Centres in the coming months and beyond 2021. While 2021 is the YOSC, our joint activities to develop and maintain security culture will not be limited to this year but will be a continuous effort moving forward.
ICAO APAC Aviation Security (AVSEC) Training
Despite the travel restrictions imposed globally due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ICAO and its network of Aviation Security Training Centres (ASTCs) remain steadfast in our efforts to ensure AVSEC training remains a priority. Several ICAO APAC ASTCs have taken up the challenge to re-develop, in close collaboration with ICAO, the Aviation Security Training Package (ASTP) (workshop training materials) that was initially designed for a classroom setting to virtual training packages. These APAC ASTCs were among the first in the ICAO ASTCs global network to adapt their facilities and methodologies to test-run and deliver the virtually converted ASTP/workshop in APAC. In addition, the APAC region is one of the first regions to schedule the Security Culture Workshop, the latest product of ICAO-sponsored AVSEC training, for delivery. The ICAO APAC office would like to extend its greatest appreciation to our ASTCs for their unwavering support in AVSEC training.
