International border security and management standards discussed at OSCE-UNDP course

First Aid Training Session, Dushanbe, 10 March 2016. (OSCE/Khabib Rakhmonov)

DUSHANBE, 10 March 2016 – A ten-day border management awareness course for twenty-one border officials from Afghanistan and Tajikistan concluded today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The course, which was co-organized with the EU-funded, UNDP-implemented Border Management Northern Afghanistan (BOMNAF) project, focused on important elements of border security and management, the use of modern techniques in preventing transnational crimes, leadership and management, customs and trade facilitation, concealment in cargo and vehicles, first aid as well as precursor identification and investigation of supply sources.

The course offered a mixture of theory and practical exercises including a study visit to the Cynology Centre in Dushanbe where participants observed a demonstration on the use of dogs in border security operations.

“Since 2012, seventeen courses for 354 officials from Afghanistan and Tajikistan have been delivered at the College within the framework of the BOMNAF project. Each year this co-operation grows and develops into the design and delivery of comprehensive training offerings with the aim of reducing current and emerging threats to security in and around Afghanistan,” said Dita Nowicka, Director of the OSCE Border Management Staff College.

William Lawrence, UNDP Manager of the BOMNAF and the Border Management Project (BMP) said: “In addition to learning about cross-border trade facilitation, we are very pleased that beneficiaries of our projects have improved their Border Management skills and ability to engage in co-operative activities on the border and at Border Crossing Points. It is also vitally important they are able to assist practically in regional development and cross-border initiatives as well as in the maintenance of regional security, both with newly-evolving threats and with new equipment and techniques available to tackle them.”