Fourteen countries received a security certificate at the 27th Universal Postal Congress in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
The UPU has long recognized that, by protecting the safety and security of the postal sector, it is helping to protect supply chains and worldwide commerce and communication. To achieve this, it formed the UPU’s Postal Security Group (PSG), which is driven by the golden principle that “postal security makes business sense.”
Formed after the Washington Universal Postal Congress in 1989, the PSG is responsible for the development and implementation of security standards and best practices among the international postal sector. The group delivers training sessions, holds missions, and creates prevention programmes to assist Posts. Its overriding goal is the protection of employees, customers and assets of Posts, as well as safeguarding mails from fraud, theft and misuse.
After the Doha Universal Postal Congress in 2012, the PSG developed a security certification system setting out the issue of postal security within the UPU Convention. The UPU Postal Operations Council granted status 2 to Standards S58 (General security measures) and S59 (Office of exchange and international airmail security) in February 2016. The security certification process was piloted regionally in 2015, on the basis of a standardized methodology and physical security risk assessment tool.
Each of the postal operators present at Congress received the certificate personally from the UPU Deputy Director General Pascal Clivaz, who later joined them for a group photograph. The countries awarded a certificate were Argentina, Bermuda, Columbia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Solomon Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vanuatu.
“During this congress cycle the commitment of the member posts to ensuring the mandatory minimum security standards has continued to increase and expand in all regions,” said UPU Security Programme Manager Dawn Wilkes. “The strengthening of security standards and the development of security experts increases the confidence of not only postal customers, but all stakeholders. This delivers on UPU’s primary pledge that postal security makes good business sense,” she added.
https://www.upu.int/en/Press-Release/2021/Statement-from-the-UPU-Spokesperson-on-the-letter-addressed-to-Pope-Francis-containing-bullets