Last Updated on Saturday, 17 May 2025, 20:23 by Writer
Guyana on Friday laid the legal groundwork to participate in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS) to monitor the movement of suspects and criminals, while scotching claims that Guyanese 0fficials released a picture of a Guyanese woman’s cancelled American visa.
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, in his contribution to the parliamentary debate in the new regionally-oriented legislation, doubted that any official had released information about anyone who recently returned to Guyana involuntarily.
“I don’t think that the system that we have and the people that we have working with us had anything to do, as far as I know, in relation to sharing any information of any person who may have been recently forced to come back to Guyana,” he said.
He noted that there are many Guyanese who work at United States ports.
“In the wider scheme of things, in today’s Social Media landscape, sharing of information on TikTok and other platforms is one which results in information going around fairly quickly and, perhaps, not as originally intended,” he added.
A picture of Guyanese Odessa Primus’ cancelled American visa was circulated on Social Media hours after she touched down at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on May 9.
She was denied entry to the US on arrival at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) parliamentarian, Annette Ferguson said “we were all taken by surprise, the nation that is, how a particular citizen who landed from the United States; her information was actually shared across the Social Media spectrum so while we talk about privacy and security and all manner of things, it seems to me that somewhere within the system we got porous areas where sensitive information of our people gets out in the public,” she said.
She hoped that the new legislation would guarantee the security of persons’ private data.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall said the eAPIS system would be rolled out across CARICOM after each member state enacts data protection legislation.
Guyana has already passed such a law, but it has not yet been activated.
The Data Protection Act 2023 would guarantee the protection of certain types of data and provide for severe punishment of those who flout that law.
The Attorney General said the eAPIS would allow for the tracking of terrorists and other such persons through the regional eAPIS with connections to INTERPOL before their arrival or transit.
The captain of an aircraft or the master of a marine craft or an agent must submit the names of passengers and crew to the Chief Immigration Officer and the CARICOM Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) and the Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC) with the relevant advance passenger information and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.
“Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) are two indispensable weapons in any State’s arsenal to combat serious crimes such as terrorism , drug trafficking, firearm smuggling and other transnational organised crime,” Mr Nandlall said.
The law provides for the deletion of PNR after seven years.
He said the system was also geared to detect whether a passenger was flying to “high risk” countries or regions and whether he or she uses more than one passport or suspicious payment for tickets.
The Attorney General said the Chief Immigration Officer is prohibited from taking action that would adversely affect a person based on their race, ethnic origin, political opinion, religion or philosophical belief, health, sexuality or sexual orientation and trade union affiliation.
“However, the competent authority can so act if failure to take decision would prejudice the public interest, public safety and national security,” he said.
The new legislation is in keeping with United Nations resolutions and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules.
A sunset eAPIS was first implemented in 2007 for the Caribbean’s hosting of Cricket World Cup.
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