NEW PASSPORT AND BORDER CONTROLS
(Haiti Libre) -
Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, the Minister of the Interior and Territorial Collectivity, launched yesterday Friday, August 19, at the Karibe Convention Center, the new biometric e-passport and a system of border control whose cost is estimated to USD$19million. An advance of USD$5 million has already been paid for the start of this project and the decentralization of the service in Haiti.
Several foreign firms, including Datacard, NEC, and Avilon Biometrics have been engaged by the Haitian authorities for the implementation of these advanced technologies in Haiti. This project should be operational within the next six months.
The e-passport will enable the decentralization of services, and Haitians should be able to make their passport applications in major cities across the country said the Minister. "It is a great step forward for the country. The management will be much more secure, faster and more accessible". This networked system will be connected to a central processing system that will analyze the information to respond to requests. The Haitian state will issue 400.000 new passports and the old passports will be gradually replaced by new ones.
"...we will make the passport truly accessible to citizens, where they live. [...] This new passport is strongly focused on biometric aspects; not only fingerprints but also facial recognition. This will allow us to reduce to zero the possibility for a person making two passport applications; one here and one abroad" said Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé.
This new system will be connected to other information systems outside the country, and will help to better control the identity of foreign nationals, and will also allow the processing of passport applications made from abroad.
"The network will be permanently connected with the FBI and Interpol" and will also allow, for the next government to perform a rigorous and permanent control in real-time of the ingoing and outgoing of various Haitian citizens and foreigners in the country. The controls on the territory, will operate 24/7.
"...This system will also allow us to read the data from foreign passports [...] Currently, apart from the airport where Haiti can trace to what time a person has passed; at the other crossing points, we have no real system of control. With this project, at all the crossing points we will have a border control. This system will enable us to know exactly who has entered or left and when. I think it's important, because we will be able to know which foreigners are in an irregular situation in the country [...] There are many foreigners in the country that are illegal, but we can not really follow them. Currently, to find the information we must search through the cardboard boxes of the Directorate of Immigration", explained the Minister.
Regarding the price of this new biometrics e-passport, Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé has clarified that "it is the next government that will decide."
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