CONSULARISWorldReach Software Newsletter

Consularis is derived from the Latin word, Consul. It referred to the Roman governors of provinces as far back as 400 A.D.

NO

VEM

BE

R2

00

8

INSIDE CONSULARISSpotlight Series Dr. Kevin D. Stringer

The Honorary Consul:The Forgotten Cousin of Consular Services

Irish Government Chooses WorldReach to Supply Comprehensive Consular Software Solution

Spain Has Launched A New Registration System For Travelers

Citizen Centric Services

Consularis welcomes article submissions from those in the consular world. For more information on how to submit an article or suggest a story idea, please send us an email at: marketing@worldreach.com

THE HONORARY CONSUL: THE FORGOTTEN COUSIN OF CONSULAR SERVICES

The way Ministries of Foreign Affairs are handling Honorary Consuls today has come a long way since the scenario described in the Graham Greene book “The Honorary Consul”. The book describes a plot of an Honorary Consul that is mistakenly kidnapped instead of the local Ambassador. Afterwards, the British diplomatic corps in Buenos Aires cannot un-derstand why no one in Argentina understood that the captive Charley Fortnum was only an “honorary” consul and not a proper Consul.

Today the Honorary Consul is an integrated and rec-ognized part of a nation’s consular and diplomatic representation on foreign soil. This becomes evident through a talk with Dr. Stringer a keynote speaker, writer and advisor at the Diplomatic Studies Pro-gramme of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’. The Clingendael Institute is a renowned diplomatic think-tank and platform for consular related research and publications. Dr. Stringer recently authored a discussion paper in diplomacy entitled “Think Global, Act Local: Hon-orary Consuls in a Transforming Diplomatic World” (http://www.clingendael.nl/publications/2007/20071100_cdsp_

diplomacy_stringer.pdf). It is with this article in mind that we discussed the renewed roles of Honorary Consuls.

Increased honorary consular useAccording to Dr. Stringer, the ability of the Honorary Consul to spread consular representation outside the receiving nation’s capital and provide in-depth local connections in outlying regions, is pivotal to the suc-cess of the sending country and is a major reason why in the last decade there has been an increase in the use of Honorary Consuls. By using Honorary Consuls, Ministries of Foreign Affairs can augment and extend their consular information and capability coverage. This enables them to cover those outlying regions in ways that are not possible by using career diplomats. As a result, it often happens that an Hon-orary Consul is the most senior diplomat available outside the receiving country’s capital.

A wide range of usagesGovernments assign Honorary Consuls a wide array of responsibilities ranging from economic related business development and representational func-tions to consular citizen services.

An Honorary Consul is a very valuable resource in the early stages of a large crisis, says Dr. Stringer. Unknown to many, when travelers are in distress on foreign soil, they are often initially dealing with an

SPOTLIGHT SERIES: This issue features Dr. Kevin D. Stringer, a former US Foreign Service officer. Dr. Stringer holds a Ph.D. in International Relations with special research interests in Consular Diplomacy.

“An Honorary Consul is often the most senior diplomat available outside the receiving country’s capital.”

“The EU does not treat Honorary Consuls evenly across their member states.”

When Ministries of Foreign

Affairs are centralizing their

passport production, Honorary

Consuls are to a lesser degree

involved in passport issuance.

Honorary Consul that helps them with citizen ser-vices. The Asian Tsunami is a prime example. Here some of the Honorary Consuls in the area were later acknowledged by their countries for their great ef-forts in dealing with the aftermath of the crisis.

Areas where Honorary Consuls are used to a lesser degree are in the issuance of passports and visas. The reason for this is that many Ministries of Foreign Affairs are now centralizing their passport and visa production efforts for security reasons. Having said this, Honorary Consuls often handle complementary consular work such as verifying births or deaths as well as notarial services.

Benefits and drawbacksUnlike career consular officers who are regularly ro-tated in their assignments every 2 to 4 years, an Honorary Consul remains deeply embedded in his or her regional area for a prolonged period. It is not unheard of that an Honorary Consul can have the same assignment for decades. The amount of local contacts and knowledge gained by this permanence is very valuable.

Adding to the compelling reasons for an increased use of Honorary Consuls is the way Ministries of Foreign Affairs pay them. Many Honorary Consuls worldwide are quite inexpensive as they receive a small fee for their services. Most of the Honorary Consuls accept their position for the honour of being able to represent their country. Dr. Stringer states that overall, an Honorary Consul is providing a price-performance ratio that is very cost effective.

Having said this, some drawbacks exist such as an uneven level of professionalism and standards amongst consuls and countries that use them. This is not always a fault of the Honorary Consul, but is equally a result of the way that a Ministry of Foreign Affairs decides to select, train and invest in its Hon-orary Consuls.

Lack of standardsHonorary Consuls are recognized under internation-al law through the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Here equal terms, rights and privileges make an Honorary Consul on par with career con-sular officers.

Dr. Stringer states that where unequal handling

starts to show, is at the receiving state level. For ex-ample, the European Union member states have no common standards for the benefits and courtesies extended to honorary consuls. They receive tax ben-efits in some countries, in others only specialized license plates. The variations are numerous.

For sending states, the variations exist in the way they select and manage their Honorary Consuls. Dr. Stringer indicates that no common practices appear to be in place. Most commonly, the local ambas-sador does the initial vetting of an Honorary Consul. A police background check is also common prac-tice, but not all nations do this. Some third world countries will even sell an Honorary Consul title to the highest bidder, according to Dr. Stringer. On the other side, some states have written procedures that clearly outline mandatory practices in the selection of an Honorary Consul.

Each Ministry of Foreign Affairs is unique in its man-agement and investment in its Honorary Consuls. Many states have their Honorary Consuls reporting to the local ambassador, whereas others are taking a more centralized approach in the way they manage and train their Honorary Consuls.

For day-to-day communication between the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs and the Honorary Consul, wide ranges of IT setups exist. Many Ministries of Foreign Affairs, but not all, allow their Honorary Consuls ac-cess to their non-secure network. Communication through non-secure emails and fax is still common-place for many Honorary Consuls.

Concluding RemarksAn Honorary Consul is an invaluable resource to ex-tend the regional representation of a state. In an age of increased virtual presence through the internet, the Honorary Consul remains a beacon for a ‘face-to-face, getting the business done’ approach in a cost effective manner.

With an improved international alignment in the op-erational aspects of the Honorary Consul corps, even greater benefits can be gained in the future.

CONSULARISWorldReach Software Newsletter W

RS

2

THE HONORARY CONSUL [CONTINUED]

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has awarded WorldReach Software a contract for a global consular IT solution and ongoing support and maintenance. The contract win in Ireland represents WorldReach’s fourth European Foreign Affairs cus-tomer and sixth overall worldwide to go along with Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

The Irish consular system to be known as “Cabhair”, which is Gaelic for help or assistance, will help ad-dress the growing demand for consular services that the DFA is facing with the increasing number of Irish people travelling abroad. Cabhair is composed of several consular pieces: a case management system, a crisis management system and a prisoner man-agement system. Cabhair will be integrated with the

existing DFA infrastructure.

Cabhair will be based on the AssistReach® consular case management and the CrisisReach® crisis man-agement product lines. The AssistReach product in-cludes a comprehensive Prisoner specialty area to handle the complexity of managing Irish prisoners abroad. Cabhair will be accessible worldwide and support the operations of headquarters and over 60 missions abroad.

Training on the Cabhair system will start to take place in November at headquarters with training of the Irish DFA mission staff to follow.

More information can be found on the WorldReach website (http://www.worldreach.com/about/news).

CONSULARISWorldReach Software Newsletter W

RS

3

IRISH GOVERNMENT CHOOSES WORLDREACH TO SUPPLY COMPREHENSIVE CONSULAR SOFTWARE SOLUTION

With the impending U.S. presidential election there has been a large emphasis placed on the importance of inviting prospective voters to regis- ter. The argument for registration is that without it people will not be af- forded the opportunity to have their voices heard. Like casting a vote, citi- zen travel registration is another way to have a citizen’s voice heard by their country, specifically their Ministry of Foreign Affairs in times of crisis when assistance is necessary.

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation launched an information campaign earlier this summer to coincide with the busy travel season, titled “Your Embassy can help”. The campaign, which is now in its third year, is aimed at promoting all the services and rights Spanish citizens have while travelling abroad; this year’s campaign is fo-cused on Registration. It is in regards to this focus that Spain has launched a new registration system for travelers and citizens living abroad.

The registration system that is translated to Spanish is based on the Registration module within the Cri-sisReach® product and allows Spanish citizens to enter their individual data, trip itinerary and emer-gency contact information through the Ministry’s website - http://www.visatur.mae.es/viajeros/. This new registration system proactively empowers trav-elers to allow the Ministry’s Crisis Unit to be better prepared in response to crises by establishing an immediate line of contact with travelers and their relatives.

With this new emphasis placed on registration, it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation’s in-tent to create a level of ‘interactive communication’ between itself and travelers, as they try to get closer to their citizens and offer all of the Spanish abroad the greatest degree of protection

Additionally as part of the campaign the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation is distributing approximately half a million explanatory leaflets (displayed left). The pamphlet includes important phone numbers, a listing of consulates consular sec-tions abroad and outlines the capabilities of what a consulate can offer their citizens abroad.

Spain has 176 consulate offices and 375 honorary consulates abroad.

SPAIN HAS LAUNCHED A NEW REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR TRAVELERS

CITIZEN-CENTRIC SERVICES

About WorldReachWorldReach Software offers solutions to extend a government’s reach of assistance across geographic borders and time zones to citizens in need. For more information on any of our solutions, please contact Mark Stoochnoff at mark.stoochnoff@worldreach.com.

Open InvitationWorldReach Software welcomes article submissions from the consular world. For more information on how to submit an article or to suggest a story idea, please send an email to marketing@worldreach.com.

UnsubscribeIf you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please send an email to unsubscribe@worldreach.com with ‘Newsletter’ written in the subject line.

CONSULARISWorldReach Software Newsletter W

RS

4

A Proven Consular PartnerWORLDREACH SOFTWARE1420 Blair PlaceSuite 500Ottawa, ONK1J 9L8 Canada

T:1-613-742-6482F:1-613-742-8188marketing@worldreach.com

www.worldreach.com

In June of 2008, WorldReach was invited by the Council of the EU Joint European Situation Centre to present at the EU Consular Cooperation Working group (COCON) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Present at the meeting were all 27 EU delegations, the European Commission and many consuls from Member States in North African countries. A focus of the Ljubljana meeting was consular crisis management and World-Reach addressed this topic by giving a presentation titled, “Handling Consular Crisis - using a Citizen-Centric software application”.

The WorldReach presentation introduced the con-cept of Citizen-Centric services and the evolution in the rising expectation level of citizens to be looked after by their Ministries of Foreign Affairs. Citizen-Centric services were outlined as services with the following characteristics:

Services designed around citizens’ needsServices that are timely with a compelling offerServices that are available online Services that are reachable by CitizensResults from proactively work with industry and non-governmental organizations

is the longest running, most internationally deployed consular case management system in the world.