Montréal, 11 March 2020 – ICAO’s 36 State Governing Council has adopted new measures relevant to the loss earlier this year of Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752 in the presence of the Minister of Transport of Canada, The Honourable Marc Garneau, the Representative of Ukraine to ICAO Mr. Andriy Shevchenko and the Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to ICAO Mr. Farhad Parvaresh.
It also urged the Islamic Republic of Iran to conduct the accident investigation in a timely manner, in compliance with applicable accident investigation provisions contained in Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and welcomed the ICAO Secretariat’s nomination of a team of advisers to assist with the investigation.
Earlier this week, the Council adopted amendments to ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices on conflict zone risk assessments and related responsibilities, in addition to an amendment concerning State obligations relating to promptly sharing information on hazardous activities to civil aviation, for example through Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs).
These provisions, and supporting guidance material, were developed by ICAO over the past 5 years, with close support of Member State experts and subsequently with special support provided by the Netherlands, whose citizens were among those lost on MH17.
At its meeting today, the Council adopted new conflict zone risk mitigation initiatives on “Safer Skies”, presented by Minister Garneau. The proposal was co-sponsored by Costa Rica, Finland, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom.
As explained by Minister Garneau, “Safer Skies” calls on ICAO to perform a comprehensive gap analysis of current airspace management and conflict zone-related guidance material, and for its results to be ready for Council review by its 220th Session from 8-26 June 2020. It also requests that the ICAO Secretariat submit a draft prioritized work plan at that time, focused primarily on update and implementation activities in support of recent amendments to airspace management and conflict zone related standards and recommended practices (SARPs).
“As I reported on earlier here today in my status report to Council, the ICAO Secretariat undertook extensive review of conflict-zone related guidance in the aftermath of the loss of flight MH17, and we will immediately reprioritize our work plan to take actions on these new concerns of our Member States with respect to this latest and very tragic loss of Flight PS752, as per today’s Council decisions,” underscored ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu.
“The Council today has taken steps to assure that the ICAO Secretariat is reviewing everything applicable, and addressing all related gaps, in order to ensure that aviation stakeholders wil be as prepared as possible to limit future risks to civilian and commercial operations from military force,” commented ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano.
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About ICAO
A specialized agency of the United Nations, ICAO was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency, capacity and environmental protection, amongst many other priorities. The Organization serves as the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 193 Member States.
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ICAO Airspace Management statement and list of Conflict Zone-related guidance materials
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