Ghana and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) have signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation in preventing and countering terrorism and its nexus with transnational organized crime.
The Letter of Agreement (LoA), will accelerate the delivery of technical assistance to Ghana under the United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel (‘CT Travel’) Programme, building national capacities and supporting efforts to address threats associated with the travel of terrorists through the use of Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR).
Mauro Miedico, the Director of UNOCT, and Albert Kan-Dapaah, the Minister for National Security of Ghana, signed the agreement in an in-person ceremony that took place on the margins of the Forum Celebrating the 5th Anniversary of the UN’s Countering Terrorist Travel Programme in Budapest, Hungary.
Mr. Miedico expressed appreciation to the Government of Ghana for its ongoing cooperation and strong collaboration with UNOCT, highlighting the significance of this partnership in enhancing national and regional security.
Kan-Dapaah also expressed appreciation for the support provided by UNOCT and emphasized Ghana’s commitment to implementing the agreed measures effectively.
The effective processing and analysis of passenger data are essential to the identification, detection, and interception of those who pose a terrorism-related threat as well as other serious criminals, including those that might be unknown to authorities, before, during and after travel.
The LoA will allow the United Nations to continue supporting Ghana in enhancing its capabilities to detect and intercept terrorists and other criminals in line with Security Council resolutions 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017), and 2482 (2019), which calls upon Member States to require that airlines operating in their territories provide API and PNR data to the appropriate national authorities to detect the departure from, or attempted entry into or transit through their territories.
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