The Hindu : G-8 leaders focus on biometrics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 06, 2003

International

International

G-8 leaders focus on biometrics

By Vaiju Naravane

The U.S. Attorney-General, John Ashcroft (front row, left), and the Justice and Interior Ministers from the G-8 nations at a summit in Paris on Monday. — AFP

Paris May 5. The U.S. Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, today became the first high-level American official to visit France since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq got under way. Since Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown, America has stepped up pressure on France, saying Paris will have to face the consequences of its opposition to the war against Iraq.

Mr. Ashcroft is in Paris for a meeting of the Justice and Interior Ministers from the world's most industrialised nations, a month before the G-8 summit takes place in Evian, France.

He will also address a special meeting in Lyon at the headquarters of the international police organisation — Interpol — on recovering artefacts stolen from Iraqi museums.

Today's preparatory meeting focused on the increasingly important field of biometrics, seen as vital in fighting identity fraud, often used by international criminal gangs and terrorist networks.

Research in biometrics is galloping ahead and security forces will soon be able to use iris scans and other unfalsifiable material to make tamper-proof passports and identity documents.

The French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, said he was particularly happy to welcome Mr. Ashcroft to the meeting, another conciliatory gesture from Paris, which was desperately trying to mend fences with Washington.

Mr. Sarkozy also announced the establishment of a Franco-U.S. working group on biometrics. The French said they were seeking answers from the Americans on the fate of six French citizens captured in Afghanistan in 2001, who are being held at Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. forces.

"We have no idea what the status of these people is — the Frenchmen or the others — and naturally I am going to question John Ashcroft about his intentions,'' said the French Justice Minister, Dominique Perben.

None of the 650 detainees had been given access to a lawyer or been presented before a judge. "This situation cannot go on,'' Mr. Perben said. Despite conciliatory noises from Paris, there is still palpable hostility between France and America. U.S. officials have said the French could contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq but on "coalition terms''.

Washington now plans to divide Iraq into four peacekeeping zones that will be controlled by Poland, Britain, the U.S. and a fourth as yet unnamed country.

France and Germany have both been kept out as punishment for their opposition to the war in Iraq.

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