2025 Outline Congress Topics will include:
Trends in Drugs, Trafficking, SOC and Terrorism – impact across continents
“Drugs on the streets seems to be the insoluble societal problem of our age. It destroys lives and permeates every part of society. It makes law breakers of otherwise law-abiding citizens and through their dealers puts them in direct contact with the criminal underbelly of society.
Drugs are the invisible glue that connects organised crime with terrorists, with the city slicker that likes to ‘do a line’ and with the student on campus, just starting out on their life story. Along the way it corrupts officials and politicians, and sucks billions out of the economies of every country it touches. Terrorists gain an unlimited source of revenue and expertise in illicit transfer and laundering of proceeds from illicit transactions.
In this session we will look at any new trends in drug trafficking and look to share any new policy developments and measures that have been successful in countering this evil trade.”
Trends in Irregular and Mass Migration
“According to UNHCR figures by May 2024, more than 120 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. This includes 43.4 million refugees, 63.3 million internally displaced people, 6.9 million asylum seekers and 5.8 million people in need of international protection.
But it is not just conflict and persecution that drives migration. Economic and educational opportunities are also major drivers and, in the years to come, climate change will play an increasing role in setting people on the move. Human traffickers exploit these people at their most vulnerable to extort money and drive migrants into slave labour and the sex trade.
Whether it is conflicts, natural disasters or economics, the flow of migrants from poor southern countries to rich northern ones is probably only going to increase.
So, what are current trends in migration and what further can be done to tackle those bad actors that are ready to exploit these people when they are at their most vulnerable. “
Maritime and Big Rivers
“Rivers create a particular set of problems for border management. Rivers can flow hundreds and thousands of kilometres from the ocean into national territories. Indeed, rivers make up 23 percent of all international borders.
South America has the largest number of international borders made up by rivers—nearly half. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, French, Guiana, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. On the Indian subcontinent the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus are shared with neighbouring countries, India Nepal, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
As an example of the complexity the Danube can be navigated by ocean going vessels from the Black Sea 2,400 km into the very heart of Europe, passing through or making up part of the border of ten of those countries.
So, how do you manage the intersection of rivers, seas and oceans and the multi-national and multi-jurisdictional complexity of this most challenging of border domains.”
OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) at the Border
“How do we disrupt or prevent travel of bad actors?
Information sharing between some governments is good, but any gaps will be exploited. Interpol and ICAO are starting to provide greater access to what were previously government access only systems. But is there a role for non-government actors, including industry, to deter or prevent travel of criminals, victims of modern slavery, traffickers and terrorists.
The use of OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) is not new and has been used by the military and national intelligence agencies for many years, but advances in AI, communications technology and the growth in the use of social media and communications apps, means that publicly available data can not only help border law enforcement begin to map out and identify linkages in the wider criminal networks behind smuggling and trafficking. But it can also now provide actionable insights to border agents in real time.
How can border and intelligence agencies and their partners in industry cooperate in delivering optimum results from OSINT. “
Identity Management
“Identity Verification is self-evidently the key to effective border management.
For all border agencies, verify each person’s identity against government databases determines whether an individual is welcome into a country or not.
Morphed photo: Use of a morphed image in a genuine document, allowing two individuals to share the same passport. Counterfeit: The complete fake reproduction of a genuine document made with non-genuine materials or using parts of genuine documents. How do we accurately verify documents using the tools available such as biometrics and digital signatures, encryption and watermarking.”
The Impact Border Security and Management Can Have on Environmental Sustainability
“Industrial waste typically has a negative value – it costs businesses money to treat it in a way that is safe and does not harm the environment. Costs include treatment, technology and labour costs in line with national laws and environmental regulations. There is therefore an incentive for companies wishing to avoid these costs to export the waste to other countries with less strict environmental standards, or to illegally dump and dispose of such waste. Source: https://baselgovernance.org/
Illegal trafficking of wildlife one of the most profitable natural resource crimes. It involves the illegal harvesting, trapping or killing of many endangered species of animals or plants for sale to be used as medicine, food, or sold as pets.
Whether it is the trafficking in endangered wildlife or the illegal international trade in waste materials, much of it dangerous, border agencies are in the front line in helping to protect the environment.”
Emerging Trends in Technology at the Border (Government Perspectives)
“All around the world, governments are looking for that next step in technology that will change the border security paradigm, such as stand-off explosive and drug detection or big data analytics. Some technologies are still on the wish list, but some are now very much on the ‘to do’ list!
One of the biggest drivers in border security going forward will be advent and application of AI, whether it is in enhancing the performance of or automating existing systems, or in analysing terabytes of data.
But what systems are on the border security wish list and what work is being done in turning those wishes into reality.”
Capacity Building and Training
“Any organisation, whatever is field of operation, is only as good as its staff. And investment in that human capital is one of the most valuable activities that any organisation can participate in. Training promotes the ethics and ideals of the organisation as well as well as improving the skills and knowledge to develop sound border and security management skills based on best practice.
As border agencies invest in increasingly sophisticated technology, agency staff will increasingly have to master new skills and ever-changing technical and operational skills.
So, how do you develop goals for your training program and the success metrics to measure how effective that training program is?”