The recent passage of the Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record (APIPNR) Bill is a milestone in the struggle against transnational organised crime in the Caribbean region.

This legislation, providing a central database under which CARICOM nations could exchange critical passenger and cargo information, represents a fundamental reconsideration of regional security cooperation.

As criminal networks develop in increasing levels of sophistication across porous borders, this legislation offers a long-overdue remedy to transnational threats that have exploited the fractured structure of Caribbean security frameworks.

The Caribbean has traditionally been beset by vulnerability to transnational criminal networks.

These groups have exploited the geographical reality of many island states with limited individual assets to combat sophisticated criminal networks.

Attorney General Nandlall’s comment that crime as “one of the major challenges facing the region” is not hyperbole but a stark overview of a crisis that threatens the social and economic architecture of Caribbean societies.

Transnational crime syndicates are no longer operated in rigid hierarchies but in “fluid networks” that provide them “diversity, flexibility, low visibility and longevity,” CARICOM’s own Crime and Security Strategy asserts.

Such a new model of criminal organisation needs to be met by an equally sophisticated response from the region’s governments.

The APIPNR Bill is just such a sophisticated response.

By operationalizing the CARICOM Advance Passenger Crew Information System, the Act puts in place a system by which immigration, customs and law enforcement authorities can identify potential security threats prior to their being in border areas.

This proactive potential is invaluable in a part of the world where security operations often lack resources.

The measures in the bill allowing the authorities to “screen passengers before they arrive in a country” and “identify potential security threats early” are a necessary move away from the attitude of reaction to one of anticipation.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of this bill is its regional focus and cooperative nature.

The historical tendency to prefer purely national security solutions has normally served the purpose of what security experts have referred to as the “balloon effect” – successful enforcement in one nation simply pushing crime into adjacent territories.

As CARICOM’s own security reports acknowledge, “national initiatives can also have the unintended effect of pushing transnational organized crime activity from one Member State to another, as traffickers quickly adjust and seek out alternative sources, routes and transit points”.

The APIPNN Bill addresses this deficiency by putting in place standard information-sharing protocols among participating CARICOM members.

Critics of expanded security protocols have a valid reason to be concerned about privacy and civil liberties.

But the APIPNR Bill appears to have been constructed with these matters firmly in mind.

It was Attorney General Nandlall who drew particular attention to the “strong safeguards for confidentiality” incorporated into the legislation of the bill.

The timing of the bill with respect to comparatively recently enacted Data Protection laws also suggests a focus on prudent information management.

The endorsement of the bill’s privacy provisions by opposition MP Khemraj Ramjattan suggests an attractive cross-party recognition of security requirements and civil liberties concerns.

Conformance of law to international conventions and best practice is a further strength. Minister Deodat Indar’s affirmation that the bill “fits neatly with our international conventions” demonstrates Guyana’s commitment to operating within accepted global standards for security cooperation.

Furthermore, considerations in the implementation in practice – like Indar’s assurance that the bill “imposes no undue burdens on airlines” – demonstrate caution regarding the operational matters that are so often to blame for undermining good-intentioned security legislation.

While the APIPNR Bill is an important step forward, it must be viewed as part of a comprehensive regional security strategy.

The bill follows CARICOM Cyber Security and Cybercrime Action Plan priorities, which demand “harmonised standard of practices, systems and expertise” in combating security weakness.

The successful passage of this law should be in itself a spur to greater regional action on other security issues, including cybercrime, corruption, and gun-running.

The Caribbean is faced with intricate security issues that any one piece of legislation can hardly address.

Nevertheless, the APIPNR Bill offers a basic foundation upon which subsequent strengthened security architecture may be built.

By enabling the sophisticated sharing of passenger and cargo information across borders, CARICOM nations are making a statement about their shared determination to protect their citizens from persons who would seek to exploit regional borders for illicit purposes.

This is a good security policy, but it’s also a manifestation of Caribbean sovereignty in the face of transnational threats.