Conference of Heads of Immigration and Passport Authorities: Establishing a Unified Database on Document Forgery Methods
The 22nd Arab Conference of Heads of Immigration and Passport Authorities concluded yesterday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers of Interior in Tunis, with the participation of representatives from member states, including the State of Kuwait, as well as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Arab Academy for Security Sciences.
In a statement, the Council’s General Secretariat said that the recommendations included launching the preparation of a concept paper on establishing a unified Arab database containing methods and techniques used to forge documents and papers, and presenting the issue to the next conference.
Participants also requested that the General Secretariat organize a regional conference to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling, in coordination with UNODC, and disseminate the comparative study prepared by the Arab Academy for Security Sciences on the crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling to member states, to benefit from the data and recommendations it contains.
The conference also called on member states to provide support to the Republic of Yemen to rehabilitate its immigration and passport authorities, according to available circumstances and resources.
In the context of its discussion on the topic “The current status of the use of biometric passports and biometric data bases in Arab countries,” the conference urged member states that have not yet adopted biometric passports to do so, given their security features that help curb forgery. It also called on them to share experiences and expertise in the field of issuing biometric passports, including information related to companies operating in this sector, as well as the applications and devices used.
Representing Kuwait at the conference were Colonel Haqqi Mohammed Al-Dosari, Director of the Central Administration for Residency Systems; Colonel Jasem Aman, Head of the Departures Section at the General Administration of Airport Security; and First Lieutenant Mohammed Al-Otaibi, from the International Cooperation Department.
