A new agreement between Costa Rica and the United States under the Department of Homeland Security's Biometric Information Sharing Partnership (BDSP) framework will allow the two countries to trade biometric data in real time, according to Costa Rica News.
According to Cynthia Telles, the U.S. ambassador to San Jose, the program will “improve the collection and comparison of biometric data from Costa Rica to strengthen regional governance and security.” Large-scale immigration has been cited as a contributing factor to the problem, as has an increase in identity fraud and human trafficking.
The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the memorandum was “an important step towards cooperation in the implementation of automated biometric identification systems (ABIS) and the comprehensive fight against human trafficking.”
Europol's expansion of powers will be suspended, but data exchange will remain
A controversial proposal to expand Europol's powers to combat human smuggling and human trafficking could be curbed by a new compromise proposed by Belgium, which holds the EU Council Presidency. According to StateWatch, the text of the compromise removes almost everything from the original proposal, which critics say is a power grab by EU law enforcement agencies.
One of the remaining elements is the formation of an operational task force led by Member States, which Europol will support with the provision of analytical, operational, technical and forensic support, to ensure the “effective and efficient processing of biometric data”. ”.
Another is to require member states and Europol to exchange information on smuggling and human trafficking cases. The European Commission considers this requirement to be the most important element in promoting effective cooperation. The Belgian proposal largely maintains this proposal in that there is some relaxation in member states' obligations to withhold information such as biometrics, but there is little relaxation in the case of operational forces.
Information exchange between Europol, Member States and third parties takes place via the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA).
Article topics
Biometric Data | Biometric Identifiers | Border Security | Costa Rica | Data Sharing | European Commission | International Biometric Information Sharing (IBIS) | United States