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OAS - Other Events

OAS Symposium on Border Management: A Dialogue on Cross Border Co-Operation

This Symposium was held in Vancouver between August 30 th and September 2 nd 2004. The topics discussed centred largely on border security and the full document released by the OAS can be accessed here .

The Government of Canada, the CICTE, the Inter-America Drug Abuse Control Commission and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters hosted the conference which was attended by senior officials from 30 out of 34 of the member states of the OAS.

The Symposium was intended to share best practices in the area of co-operative border management. At the end, delegates were invited to send to the CICTE and CICAD Secretariat a description of their needs in order to implement suggested cross border security and border management practices. This information will assist the CICTE and CICAD in developing their work plan and assistance programmes in the year ahead.

The Symposium used both presentations and demonstrations as a vehicle to inform attendees of 'strategic approaches and concrete practices'. A few aspects of the event that are relevant to policy laundering have been extracted and mentioned below:

• The 'Smart Border Action Plan' provided the context for the US and Canadian presentations, although it is stated that the 'objective of the Symposium was not to transpose the Canada-US Smart Border Action Plan in the Americas', rather 'Canadian and US officials hoped that elements of the smart border action plan would enlighten and suggest avenues for other useful border co-operation elsewhere in the hemisphere'.

• In addition the two countries also presented on "the Cross-Border Crime Forum, the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBET), critical infrastructure protection, prosecutor exchanges, Advance Passenger Information / Passenger Name Record (API/PNR) programs, CANPASS AIR and NEXUS AIR, air and marine cargo security, cross-border facilitation programs such as the Free and Secure Trade Program (FAST), Partners in Protection Program (PIP), and the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT), cross-border transportation and infrastructure, implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, the National Port Enforcement Teams, and on marine passenger processing".

• Demonstrations included the CANPASS kiosks (iris technology), the CANPASS Enrolment Centre; CBSA and CIC Secondary Passenger Inspection; Passenger Targeting Unit / Passenger Analysis Unit, FAST (FAST Driver processing, electronic fingerprinting), NEXUS (CIC Driver/Traveller Processing), VACIS demonstration, and the Advance Commercial Information (ACI) Targeting Tool.

• Emphasis was placed on private sector involvement in the development and implementation of border management and co-operation. "The government and the private sector are key partners and both need each other (for) assessing security risks and developing appropriate technology and providing advance information on goods and passengers and securely facilitating their movement".

• The role of the public was also discussed -- "Border management and security cannot be carried out in isolation of the population. The Presentation on IBSET particularly highlighted the point that communities are the eyes and ears of the authorities. Therefore it is essential to have communities buy into cooperation and to establish lines of communication and consultation with them."

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