Changes Made to Duke’s Restricted Regions List May Affect Summer Travel Plans

The quarterly meeting of Duke’s Global Travel Advisory Committee led to recommendations to modify restrictions on travel to four countries and placed several destinations on the ‘watch list’ to revisit in the Fall.

Effective June 15, Provost Sally Kornbluth made the following changes to the Duke University Restricted Regions List:

• Algeria – travel will now be allowed to the capital Algiers.  The remainder of the country will remain restricted.
• Burkina Faso – travel to Oudalan, Soum and Loroum provinces as well as the border with Mali are restricted.  Travel to the remainder of the country is now allowed.
• Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) – Dix Huit Montagnes, Haut Sassandra, Moyen-Cavally and Bas-Sassandra continue to be restricted.  Travel to the remainder of the country is now allowed.
• Mexico – Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Durango, Jalisco, Morelos, Michoacan, Guerrero and Mexico States are all restricted as is travel to the U.S./Mexico border.

There continues to be federally imposed restrictions on travel to Cote d’Ivoire so if you, or a student/faculty/staff member you work with, plan to visit the country, the travel must first be cleared by the Office of Export Controls.

“Each one of these destinations has had security events that drew our attention to them,” said Eric Mlyn, Chair of the Advisory Committee.  “For example, in Tamaulipas Mexico, several Americans were kidnapped in April and freed in early May by Mexican security forces. 

“When events like this occur, International SOS, the U.S. State Department and other western governments issue alerts or warnings on travel.  That is what we look at when making the recommendations to the provost for a restriction to be put in place.”

“Weighing safety and security concerns against the freedoms that must be in place to enable the broad scope of Duke’s academic and research activity abroad, is a difficult balance to achieve,” Kornbluth said.  “Restrictions on student travel are not always the ‘end all’. By asking a student to petition for a waiver, we know that they will need to familiarize themselves with the current dangers, modify their plans accordingly and will now know what to do when an emergency occurs.” 

Christy Parrish Michels, travel policy administrator, noted that most petitions are approved. “Duke adding a restriction is the only means we have to alert someone that it’s a dangerous time or there are higher risks than normal in a particular location,” Michels said. 

In addition to the above changes made, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon and Myanmar were discussed but no action was felt to be warranted at this time.  These four countries will be monitored over the coming weeks and if the security situation changes, an ad hoc meeting will be convened to discuss them.

“The Restricted Regions List, like the Travel Registry, is one of only a few tools we have to ensure the safety and security of our travelers,” Michels said. 

All travelers are encouraged to enter their travel plans in the Duke Registry found online at www.travel.duke.edu.  Students can petition through the online tools of the new registry and there are much easier methods for faculty and staff to register their international travel plans.

The “Express Registry” option collects minimal information, dates and destinations to be visited; the “Proxy Registry” option, allows support staff to register for a faculty/administrator; and the “Standard Registry” form has far fewer data fields required than the previous registry.