Border Control Authorities Research Articles

Initial response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak in Sri Lanka; views of public health specialists through an International Health Regulations lens.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected Sri Lanka despite having developed an International Health Regulations (IHR) steering committee in 2016 and a national action plan for health security following the Joint External Evaluation in 2018. Many steps were taken to improve the disaster management skills of healthcare workers even before the COVID-19 outbreak. We interviewed seven public health specialists to obtain their views on the country's response to the pandemic. A thematic analysis was conducted, leading to the emergence of three major themes and seven subthemes. The major themes included health security preparedness; COVID-19 management; and effects of COVID-19. The subthemes were; preparedness prior to pandemic and gaps in the preparedness (under health security preparedness); dual burden for the curative sector, strategies to reduce transmission and barriers to managing COVID-19 (under COVID-19 management) and negative and positive effects of COVID-19 (under effects of COVID-19). When COVID-19 reached Sri Lanka, healthcare workers, border control authorities and those involved with infectious disease control were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the pandemic. Healthcare workers' hesitation to work amidst the pandemic due to fear of infection and possible transmission of infection to their families was a major issue; the demand for personal protective equipment by health workers when stocks were low was also a contributory factor. Lockdowns with curfew and quarantine at government regulated centers were implemented as necessary. Perceptions of the public including permitting healthcare workers to perform field public health services, logistical barriers and lack of human resources were a few of the barriers that were expressed. Some persons did not declare their symptoms, fearing that they would have to be quarantined. The pandemic severely affected the economy and Sri Lanka relied on donations and loans to overcome the situation. Pandemic also brought about innovative methods to maintain and upgrade health service provision. Individuals with non-communicable diseases received their regular medications through the post which reduced their risk of being infected by visiting hospitals. Improvement of laboratory services and quarantine services, a reduction of acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases, improved intersectoral coordination and public philanthropic response were other positive effects.

Examining the international bushmeat traffic in Belgium: A threat to conservation and public health

The carriage of bushmeat into the European Union is an infringement of EU Animal Health and Wildlife Trade legislation and poses a threat to biodiversity and public health. To explore the nature and scale of the international bushmeat trade, seized leaking luggage and passengers arriving at Brussels Zaventem airport from sub-Saharan Africa between 2017 and 2018 were searched for “meat” (bushmeat and livestock) by border control authorities. Visual identification, radiography and genetic analysis were applied to derive information from seized specimens, including at least ten CITES-listed species. We estimate that an average of 3.9 t of bushmeat is smuggled monthly through Brussels. The average consignment of meat seized per passenger was 2.8 kg and 4 kg of bushmeat or domestic livestock meat, respectively. The international trafficking of bushmeat is evidently active, yet penalties are rarely enforced; hence we provide suggestions to simplify law enforcement procedures.

A stochastic assessment to quantify the risk of introduction of African swine fever virus to Taiwan via illegal pork products carried by international travellers.

The current study quantified the risk of releasing African swine fever virus (ASFV) into Taiwan from pork products illegally carried by international travellers from 157 countries or territories through six international airports and three international seaports. The association between various factors and the number of pork products detected by the border control authorities was also examined. The risk was estimated with a stochastic process after modelling the number of undetected illegal pork products, probability of pork product detection at international airports and seaports and probability of ASFV contamination of pork products from various countries. The overall annual probability of ASFV release to Taiwan was estimated to be 1 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1-1] under no enhanced mitigation measures. All the median airport-level risks were higher than .921, and four of them reached 1. The total annual risk was .570 (95% CI: .109-.937) for international seaports. The country or territory level risk was estimated to be 1 for Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines and South Korea, .999 (95% CI: .628-1) for Macao and .967 (95% CI: .359-1) for Indonesia. After the total number of travellers was factored in, the number of detected illegal pork products was the highest in January and February, and travellers from Vietnam [risk ratio to Japan (RR): 80.45; 95% CI: 58.68-110.3], the Philippines (RR: 37.67; 95% CI: 26.9-52.74) and Cambodia (RR: 28.39; 95% CI: 12.69-63.51) were most likely to bring pork products to Taiwan. Our study indicated a high risk of ASFV introduction through international travellers and also identified the factors associated with the risk. This information can be used as empirical evidence for cost-effective risk mitigation practices.

Conspicuous Mobility: The Status Dimensions of the Global Passport Hierarchy

The world’s passports are not equal. Travelers from rich countries enjoy extensive travel freedom across the globe, whereas citizens of less developed nations are subject to stringent visa controls. This article examines this global hierarchy from a social cognition perspective, highlighting the status competition around international travel. It analyzes interviews with ninety-eight persons in Serbia and Israel who have acquired a second passport from a European Union country. The interviews illustrate how a social cognition perspective can shed new light on international mobility and global inequality: the analysis suggests that passengers continuously monitored how they and others were treated by border control authorities, perceiving different treatment as indicative of status. Respondents experienced shame when the treatment they received fell short of their expected standards and felt pleasure and pride when treated better than comparable others. Respondents tended to compare their travel freedom to that enjoyed by citizens of nations that they perceived as culturally similar.

Biometric technology in \u201cno-gate border crossing solutions\u201d under consideration of privacy, ethical, regulatory and social acceptance

Biometric technologies have become the main focus in the design of state-of-the-art border security solutions. While respective research in the field of multimedia vision has been centred around improving quality and accuracy of identity recognition, the impact of such technologies upon society and legal regulations still remains a topic unaddressed, specifically within the engineering community. Research in technology can and in some respect must include collaboration with social sciences and social practice. Building on participation in the EU funded research project PERSONA [18] (Privacy, Ethical, Regulatory and SOcial No-gate crossing point solutions Acceptance), authors of this paper look at the challenges associated with biometrics-based solutions in no-gate border crossing point scenarios. This included the procedures needed for the assessment of their social, ethical, privacy and regulatory acceptance, particularly in view of the impact on both, the passengers and border control authorities as well as the potential pitfalls of biometric technology due to fraudulent activities. In consultation with the collaborating border control authorities, the paper reports on the formal assessment of biometric technologies for real-world acceptance to cope with the increasing demand of global travellers crossing state borders.

Facing up to the new world of border control

Every decade brings its challenges, and while it's true that the 2020 global Covid-19 pandemic has presented one of the biggest that many of us have faced, we need to prepare for what the post-Covid world will look like. Global travel may have ground to a halt during this year, but as planes take to the skies again and as more land, sea and air borders are re-opened, governments and border control authorities are once again focused on ensuring their borders remain safe and their newly implemented measures are future-proof.

Drones Along Borders: Border Security UAVs in the United States and the European Union

This article examines the complex security landscape that is unfolding as states deploy military drones for border security and non-state actors with sharply diverging motives develop their own drone surveillance capacities. We argue that border security drones have contrary political, policy, and ethical implications. First, the encroachment of military technologies into non-military security operations may have adverse security repercussions, but drones may also save migrants’ lives as they make dangerous journeys through deserts and across rough seas. Second, drone surveillance erodes privacy but also creates new accountability mechanisms. Finally, drones may obviate some visible signs of security, such as fences, while also introducing an invisible security apparatus that extends beyond state boundaries. These contradictory effects help to explain the complex policy formation processes underlying drone border security programs in the United States and Europe, as well as the challenge of reaching clear answers about whether drone security is desirable. Resumen: Este artículo analiza el complejo panorama de seguridad que se está desarrollando debido a los drones militares que utilizan los estados para vigilar las fronteras y al hecho de que actores no estatales con motivaciones marcadamente distintas están desarrollando sus propios sistemas de vigilancia con drones. Afirmamos que los drones destinados a la vigilancia de las fronteras tienen implicaciones políticas, éticas y reglamentarias opuestas. En primer lugar, la intrusión de las tecnologías militares en las operaciones de seguridad no militares puede tener repercusiones negativas en materia de seguridad, pero al mismo tiempo, los drones pueden salvar las vidas de los inmigrantes que emprenden un peligroso viaje en el que cruzan desiertos y mares embravecidos. En segundo lugar, la vigilancia con drones reduce la privacidad, pero también permite crear nuevos mecanismos de responsabilidad. Por último, los drones pueden pasar por alto señales visibles de seguridad, como las vallas, a la vez que introducen un sistema de vigilancia invisible que va más allá de las fronteras nacionales. Estos efectos contradictorios ayudan a explicar los complejos procesos de creación de políticas que están detrás de los programas de vigilancia de las fronteras con drones de Estados Unidos y Europa, así como el desafío de obtener respuestas claras acerca de la idoneidad de la seguridad con drones.

API and PNR data in use for border control authorities

Airplanes transport a large number of travelers simultaneously, and airports are often described as inland borders where strangers converge and disperse. They are also a conduit for terrorism and transnational crimes. Border control authorities have endeavored to obtain information regarding travelers’ identification, baggage and travel intentions in advance in order to detect and deter terrorism and transnational crime in an efficient manner. However, the transmission of detailed personal information – an integral feature of advance passenger information (API) and passenger name record (PNR) data – gives rise to concerns about privacy and data protection. This article contests that API and PNR data ought to be examined within the context of the broad array of risk management activities undertaken by border control authorities. The collection of such data for border control can also lead to better-informed decisions and judgement calls by investigators regarding which travelers to apprehend, as distinct from the current, seemingly arbitrary and often intuition-based decisions, and the consequent intrusion of privacy that such investigations entail.

Air Passenger Data Transfer to the USA: the Decision of the ECJ and latest developments

How much of European air passengers' personal data should be shared with U.S. border control authorities, and under what conditions should this take place? This article examines a judgement of the European Court of Justice annulling acts of the European Commission and the Council that had allowed the transfer of personal information across the Atlantic. After an account of EC-USA negotiations and the relevant legislative procedure, it considers the findings of the Court as to the formal validity of the above measures, as well as the question of their conformity with substantive provisions of the European Community Data Protection Directive. Finally, it addresses pleas of the European Parliament not dealt with by the Court. The article concludes by supporting the Court's decision, and pointing out the unlawfulness of former and current data transfers of this type.

On detecting terrestrial planets with timing of giant planet transits

In order to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries enforced extended social distancing measures for several weeks, effectively pausing the majority of economic activities. In an effort to resume economic activity safely, several Digital Contact Tracing applications and protocols have been introduced with success. However, DCT is a reactive method, as it aims to break existing chains of disease transmission in a population. Therefore DCT is not suitable for proactively preventing the spread of a disease; an approach that relevant to certain use cases, such as international tourism, where individuals travel across borders. In this work, we first identify the limitations characterising DCT related to privacy issues, unwillingness of the public to use DCT mobile apps due to privacy concerns, lack of interoperability among different DCT applications and protocols, and the assumption that there is limited, local mobility in the population. We then discuss the concept of a Health Passport as a means of verifying that individuals are disease risk-free and how it could be used to resume the international tourism sector. Following, we present the DHP Framework that uses a private blockchain and Proof of Authority for issuing Digital Health Passports. The framework provides a distributed infrastructure supporting the issuance of DHPs by foreign health systems and their verification by relevant stakeholders, such as airline companies and border control authorities. We discuss the attributes of the system in terms of its usability and performance, security and privacy. Finally, we conclude by identifying future extensions of our work on formal security and privacy properties that need to be rigorously guaranteed via appropriate security protocols.