The three (3) day meeting of government experts to examine the draft additional act establishing the regional data exchange platform of the West African Police Information System (WAPIS) and the standard operating procedures ended on Friday 25 October in Dakar, Republic of Senegal.

During their meeting, the experts from the Ministries of Interior Security, Justice and Foreign Affairs of the ECOWAS Member States made s presentation on WAPIS, reviewed the various articles of the draft additional Act and discussed the standard operating procedures of the WAPIS regional data exchange platform.

The experts received a presentation from Mr Richard GOTWE, Head of the WAPIS Programme, on WAPIS and its level of implementation in the ECOWAS Member States. Specifically, , he highlighted the objectives of the programme, namely : to enable police officers in West African countries to access crucial police information in their national criminal databases and those of other countries in the region thereby facilitating the identification of criminals and ongoing investigations; improve the analysis of transnational organised crime and terrorism problems affecting the region and the understanding of crime originating from or transiting through West Africa; and strengthen police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the region, as well as with the European Union and the rest of the world.

Mr GOTWE explained the opportunities that the regional information exchange platform will offer to the participating countries in the fight against all forms of transnational organised crime. He also noted that ECOWAS is the only region in Africa to have set up a Schengen-type information system, for the benefit of law enforcement authorities.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Dr Abdourahmane DIENG, Head of the ECOWAS Regional Security Division, expressed the gratitude of the West African regional organisation to the European Union (EU) for its continued support not only for the implementation of the WAPIS programme, but also for the various funding initiatives in the field of peace and security in West Africa through the ECOWAS Commission.

In the same vein, he expressed the ECOWAS Commission’s deep gratitude to INTERPOL’s Secretary General for his leadership and, more particularly, for the significant technical support it has received from INTERPOL in implementing the WAPIS programme, as well as in collaborating with law enforcement in the fight against crime in all member states.

At the end of their work, the government experts adopted a number of recommendations for the member states and ECOWAS.

As part of the recommendations,Tthe ECOWAS Commission was urged to d (1) examine the necessary measures for the adoption of the Additional Act on the Regional WAPIS Platform by December 2025; (2) integrate the technical regulatory and supervisory structure of the WAPIS Regional Platform within the Regional Security Division of the ECOWAS Commission, which will be responsible for the full operationalisation of the said Platform by the end of 2025. Also, participating countries were requested to honour their commitments for the sustainability of their WAPIS system, (i) take necessary steps for the adoption or updating of the appropriate legal and operational framework where necessary, including the protection of personal data (ii) the allocation of qualified and dedicated staff, (iii) the allocation and provision of an independent budget for the operation and development of the system, and (iv) the deployment of WAPIS throughout the national territory, including land, air and maritime borders.

The experts also suggested that the ECOWAS Commission should encourage the five countries that are fully operational, namely Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Togo, to start cooperating with each other within the framework of the regional WAPIS platform after the adoption of the Supplementary Act; initiate discussions with the European Union on the introduction of a consolidation phase for the future of WAPIS under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI); and also encourage other partners to support the participating countries in the WAPIS programme.

With regard to the Member States, the meeting recommended that they take the necessary measures to cover the full costs of operating, extending and maintaining their national WAPIS; take appropriate measures to make the use of WAPIS compulsory for all law enforcement agencies; and involve the managers of the national data collection and recording centres in the activities related to the regional WAPIS programme.