The ICAO Year of Security Culture
The ICAO Secretary General launched 2021 as the ICAO Year of Security Culture (YOSC) on 18 December 2020 during the Global Aviation Security Symposium to follow up on the request of the 40th ICAO Assembly for ICAO to develop further tools to enhance security awareness and security culture.
At the regional level, ICAO’s EUR/NAT Office created a YOSC Regional Webpage where articles, guidance material, links to the Global ICAO YOSC webpage and other Security Culture tools can be found, including an article contributed by the chairpersons of the European and North Atlantic Aviation Security Group (ENAVSECG). The EUR/NAT Office conducted a region-wide virtual Security Culture Seminar for its 56 States, International and Regional Organizations as well as Industry from 30 June to 1 July 2021.
Approximately, 200 experts participated and contributed information on the ways to implement a robust and sustainable Security Culture. The recording and presentations are available on the ICAO regional website: Regional Security Culture Seminar.
Aviation Security Training and capacity building
Nine ICAO-sponsored training courses (classroom and virtual), including the newly developed Security Culture Workshop were conducted throughout 2021 in English, French and Russian languages by the regional ICAO Aviation Security Training Centres (ASTC). Two cost-recovery training courses were conducted upon request from Luxembourg to train the State’s National Aviation Security Experts. ICAO AVSEC Implementation Packages (iPacks) were deployed in two EUR/NAT States.
Regional Aviation Security meetings
The ninth meeting of the European and North Atlantic Aviation Security Group (ENAVSECG/09) took place virtually in December 2021 with the participation of 111 experts from States, international and regional organizations, and ICAO ASTCs. The meeting deliberated on the ways to counter new and emerging threats by application of innovative techniques and technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Behavior Detection, and One-Stop Security screening; discussed Cybersecurity issues, coordination of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) operations, the role of positive Security Culture and capacity building.
The third meeting of the ECHO initiative, the subgroup to ENAVSECG tasked to serve as an inclusive, impartial and collaborative region-wide mechanism for aligning capacity-building efforts was held in October 2021. The meeting discussed the progress made in mapping capacity building activities and collecting information on States’ AVSEC prevailing and COVID-19 recovery needs, brainstormed on the best way to link available capacity building activities with identified needs, and generated proposals for further actions.
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Facilitation
The EUR/NAT Office, in cooperation with ICAO Headquarters, held a Facilitation Seminar in April 2021. More than 200 experts from States, International and Regional Organizations as well as industry participants, took part in the event. The seminar covered various security-related facilitation areas such as electronic machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs), ICAO Public Key Directory and its Master List, as well as Passenger Data Exchange Systems – Advance Passenger Information (API)/Passenger Name Record (PNR) and Single Window concept for transferring data. Specific focus was given to visible digital seal (VDS) and its application for COVID-19 testing and vaccination certificates. Seminar material is available on ICAO regional website: Regional Facilitation Seminar. ICAO Facilitation Implementation Packages (iPacks) were deployed in two EUR/NAT States.
The EUR/NAT planning for 2022 includes the tenth ENAVSECG meeting (October/November), fourth and fifth ECHO initiative meetings (April and December), the Regional ICAO ASTC Directors meeting (September), 10 ICAO sponsored training courses at ICAO ASTCs (ASTC Schedule). Furthermore, requested tailor made cost-recovery training courses for several countries are planned as well as the re-evaluation of 6 ICAO ASTCs to confirm compliance with ICAO requirements.
The EUR/NAT Office is looking forward to the possibility of conducting its annual on-site Aviation Security Seminar for the States in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Balkans in Latvia (May), which was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due the pandemic.
An ICAO Universal Aviation Security Audit Programme – Continuous Monitoring Approach (USAP-CMA) Seminar is scheduled to be conducted in coordination with ICAO Headquarters at the end of May/ beginning of June 2022.
Finally, a Regional Traveler Identification Programme (TRIP) seminar is planned to be conducted in coordination with ICAO Headquarters (more information on this event will be available on the ICAO website).
