Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia has launched an automated border control system.The new system captures face and fingerprint data. It is the first of the "E-Border Control Management Systems Upgrade Project" that is to be installed at all border posts to make identification of immigrants and Namibians simpler and faster.Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana said at the launch that the world has become a global village with improved technology and transportation infrastructure, and is experiencing an unprecedented inflow of persons migrating for various reasons."While benefit also accrues from the movement of persons, particularly in the area of migration and development, there are also associated challenges that need to be managed and mitigated. These include, but are not limited to, cross-border crimes, trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants and terrorism," stated the home affairs and immigration minister."With this modernisation we expect to improve on collection of statistics, data storage and mining and bringing flexibility in connectivity with approved stakeholders."She said the operation of law enforcement agencies can be enhanced by the new system as it will help identify people even if they change their names because fingerprints will never change."The conclusion of this project surely will have significant improvement in the field of managing and facilitating lawful migration, and will contribute to the furtherance of the turnaround strategy the ministry has implemented just a few years ago," Iivula-Ithana stated.
Namibian airport launches eborder system
