Travel document security in Mediterranean region focus of OSCE workshop in Madrid

MADRID, 15 November 2007 - Helping OSCE countries improve the security of passports and other travel documents in the Mediterranean region was the focus of an OSCE workshop that ended in Madrid today.

The three-day event was organized by the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU), the Spanish Government, and the International Civil Aviation Organization.

"Upgrading travel and identity document security is important not only with regard to countering terrorism, but also to protect our citizens against identity theft and other forms of crime," said Dimitar Jalnev, ATU Programme Co-ordinator.

The workshop was designed to help OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation in the Mediterranean region, which include Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, to fulfil decisions taken in 2003 that called for improved passports. Under these decisions, travel documents need to be machine-readable, have digitized photos, and biometric data integrated when possible. The handling and issuing of passports and other documents should also be improved. The workshop encouraged OSCE participating States to use the Interpol database on lost and stolen travel documents.

"The Mediterranean region is an area that shares common values but also a common threat of terrorism," said Jose Ignazio Lopez-Chicheri of the Spanish Interior Ministry. "Illegal use of travel documents is often associated with terrorist and criminal activity, a fact that further underlines the security interdependence between OSCE participating States and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation."

More than 80 travel document security officials, from 12 of the 56 OSCE participating States and the six Partners for Co-operation from the Mediterranean region, international organizations and the private sector took part in the meeting.