Biometric ID documentsAlgeria delays launch of biometric passports
Trial runs of the new documents began in August 2009 in the capital city, and all citizens who hold an Algerian passport will have to switch to the biometric version by 2015
Algeria’s launch of new biometric passports has been delayed until 2010, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni announced at a press conference on 21 September.
Magharebia reports that the later launch date was set because of administrative delays, according to local press reports. Trial runs of the new documents began in August 2009 in the capital city, and all citizens who hold an Algerian passport will have to switch to the biometric version by 2015.
The high-tech passports will give Algeria an extra tool in the fight against “terrorism, illegal immigration and various forms of organized crime”, said Algerian prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia earlier this month.
Experts say the biometric passports will contribute to the fight against crime and terrorism on a number of levels. “Biometrics make it possible to identify a person, as a computer does, by scanning a physical characteristic which is unique to that person, such as their iris, retina, the shape of their hand or their face… and this brings a very high level of security,” said journalist and terrorism expert Faycal Oukaci. “A chip will be incorporated into a passport or visa, making it possible immediately to identify the person and to reveal the slightest addition or falsification introduced into the travel document.”
The updated passports will “close the loopholes” that exist in the use of traditional passports, said the expert.
“Algeria would benefit from accelerating this process for one very simple reason — the networks that support terrorism and illegal immigrants, as well as criminal networks, have for a number of years been able to take advantage of a situation that favored them,” said a source close to Algeria’s national security directorate.
According to the source, “the Algerian passport, like all traditional passports, is easy to forge.” He said that the ease of forgery explained “the complicated procedures introduced for trying to replace a lost passport.”
In Algeria, the border police in ports and airports are immediately informed when a passport is declared lost. This rapid response aims to counter “the incredible ability of document trafficking networks to do their work swiftly,” said the source. He singled out Port Said Square in central Algiers as the host of a vast black market in documents in which passports are forged around the clock.
A number of terrorists are able to move all over the world without difficulty, thanks to forged passports, added the source.
By opting for the biometric passport, Algeria is complying with new international rules.
The Montreal-based International Air Transport Association has decreed that all passports must fit the new biometric model by 1 April 2010. By 2015, non-biometric passports will no longer be acceptable travel documents.
Algeria is tackling the issues of identification documents and border security on several levels. In 2011 Algeria plans to issue a biometric national identity card. In addition, a government plan imposing new conditions on all foreigners entering, residing and traveling in Algeria was presented to legislators this April.
