New training season opens at OSCE Border Management Staff College

Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan Hans Peter Larsen welcomes participants of the 10th Border Management Staff Course in Dushanbe on 5 February 2014 (OSCE BMSC/Farhodjon Nabiyulloev)

DUSHANBE, 5 February 2014 – A new training season at the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) in Dushanbe kicked off today with an opening ceremony for the 10th Border Management Staff Course.

Twenty-five mid- to senior-level officers from border, customs, and drug control agencies representing 10 OSCE participating States (Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mongolia, Portugal, Spain, Tajikistan and Ukraine) and two OSCE Partners for Co-operation (Afghanistan and Egypt) will participate in a one-month course on border security and management.

“I am pleased to announce the opening of the new training season at the College,” said Henryk Raczkowski, the BMSC Director at the opening ceremony of the 10th Staff Course. “This year we have planned a wide range of training courses for senior officials from border security and management agencies throughout the OSCE area.”

The Course launched today focuses on all three OSCE dimensions of security – political-military, economic-environmental, and human.

During the first two weeks participants will review and discuss various border security models, explore latest practices in border control and border crossings, and examine transnational threats. They will also discuss information sharing and risk management, customs controls and revenue protection, trade facilitation, money laundering and drug trafficking, countering terrorism and extremism, professional integrity and anti-corruption.

The third week will focus on demarcation and delimitation techniques and good practices, together with a look at human rights, gender, migration issues as well as leadership and management skills.

The final fourth week will feature a roundtable discussion on ‘Drug trafficking in the OSCE region: Afghanistan in focus’.

Participants will also undergo train-the-trainers sessions to help them design and deliver their own training sessions, enabling graduates to pass on the skills and knowledge gained at the BMSC to colleagues back in their agencies.

“Our courses, including the one-year programme, will be conducted by international experts with extensive professional and teaching experience,” said Raczkowski. “These courses deliver the best practices, help to establish dialogue and build bridges among border professionals responsible for our common security.”