The International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) new edition of the Global Aviation Security Plan (GASeP) is designed to enhance the international aviation security environment by providing detailed guidance to governments, industry, and other stakeholders, ICAO has announced.
Published June 2024, the Plan focusses on six global aviation security priority areas including risk awareness and response, the preservation of a strong and effective security culture, human factors (including human performance and the professionalization of the aviation security workforce), innovation and the allocation of technological resources, as well as oversight and quality assurance, and cooperation and support among stakeholders.
The Plan provides the strategy and guidance needed for States to protect aviation against threats in each of these areas.
“The new ICAO Global Aviation Security Plan is both an acknowledgment of the urgent and evolving aviation security challenges we face and a product of ICAO’s unwavering commitment to confronting them head-on. The Plan is a central element in our support for robust action by governments on aviation security and cybersecurity. It also provides crucial support to our advocacy for heightened resourcing and focus for these priorities,” said ICAO Secretary General, Juan Carlos Salazar.
ICAO said that this second edition of the GASeP is a response to ICAO Assembly Resolutions A41-18 and A41-19 and is in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 2309 (2016). It aims to help States fulfill their commitments under these instruments and under Annex 17 – Aviation Security of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
States have set themselves an aspirational goal to “achieve and maintain a strong global aviation security system that is underpinned by full and effective implementation of ICAO aviation security Standards in all Member States.”
The GASeP structures States’ progress towards this goal, which will be monitored by ICAO. The results of the UN agency’s Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP), which assesses States’ implementation of ICAO Security Standards, will be used to measure progress towards the aspirational goal and its milestones. Additionally, the voluntary sharing of experience by States and all relevant stakeholders will help measure improvement in the global AVSEC priority areas.
As the global aviation community continues to face evolving security threats, the GASeP serves as a vital tool in ICAO’s ongoing efforts to strengthen aviation security worldwide. ICAO calls upon all States and stakeholders to actively engage with and implement the Plan to ensure a secure and resilient international aviation system, ICAO noted.
