International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO) and the Universal Postal Union have launched a multi-year action plan to strengthen global airmail security amid rising threats, nearly one year after parcel bombs exploded at DHL depots in Germany and the United Kingdom.
In a joint media release , the two United Nations agencies said the plan aims to address the growing risk of improvised incendiary and explosive devices being placed in international postal shipments. Officials stressed the urgency of coordinated international action to secure the supply chain, citing recent incidents that exposed vulnerabilities in screening and intelligence-sharing systems.
The strategy outlines a range of coordinated reforms designed to align postal and aviation security frameworks, including updates to ICAO’s Annex 17 standards and UPU’s S58 and S59 protocols. The plan prioritises regulatory review, increased screening capacity, and the training of postal and aviation personnel across all mail-handling stages. It also calls for more effective electronic data sharing between postal operators and civil aviation authorities to track shipments in real time and verify security status.
ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar and UPU Director General Masahiko Metoki jointly endorsed the initiative, stating that “a weakness in one part of the chain can have consequences worldwide.” The statement added that supply chain security must be treated as a shared global responsibility, particularly in light of sophisticated threats that transcend national borders.
The move follows the July 2024 explosions at DHL facilities in Leipzig and Birmingham, which German and British intelligence agencies later linked to operatives allegedly working on behalf of Russia. Though the ICAO-UPU joint release did not name any state actor, it referred to increasingly sophisticated disruptions caused by malicious actors targeting global logistics systems.
Sonia Hifdi, ICAO’s head of aviation security, noted that the past year had seen an escalation in tactics by actors seeking to destabilise the airmail system. “This is not a problem localised to a single region, or for a single state, or a single actor,” she said.
The ICAO and UPU also announced the reactivation of their joint contact committee to oversee the implementation of the new plan, including compliance monitoring through ICAO’s Universal Security Audit Programme and UPU-led certification processes. A series of joint training programmes, webinars and technical consultations with government agencies are also scheduled to roll out in the coming months.
With global parcel volumes at record highs and the airmail system under increasing pressure, UN officials stressed that only coordinated international measures can prevent future attacks and ensure the continuity of secure global mail services.