OSCE Mobile Training Team trains Kyrgyz border officers in Bishkek to enhance their capacities to identify foreign terrorist fighters

The OSCE Mobile Training Team delivered an interactive training course on the identification of foreign terrorist fighters at the borders for 27 first- and second-line border officers and instructors of Kyrgyzstan’s border institutions from 2 to 4 April 2019 in Bishkek.

This training course is the tenth deployment of the Mobile Training Team, organized by the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department. The course was supported by the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and conducted in close co-operation with the State Border Service of Kyrgyzstan.

The participants learnt about the international, regional and national legal frameworks, the effective use of Interpol databases, Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record Systems, travel document security as well as risk analysis and management practices in the identification of potential foreign terrorist fighters at borders in compliance with international human rights standards.

“This training course stressed the importance of both operational and legislative measures aimed at effectively addressing the cross-border movement of foreign terrorist fighters and other criminal groups,” said Almaz Maksutov, Deputy Head of Regional Directorate of the Border Services of Kyrgyzstan. “To implement these measures Kyrgyzstan introduced a number of amendments to its Criminal and Criminal-Procedural Codes which came into force this year.”

As well as covering the background, trends and current cases related to the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, participants also engaged in interactive exercises on the detection of forged documents and imposters, and on understanding the behavioural indicators of foreign terrorist fighters.

The Mobile Training Team was represented by national border officers from Georgia, Romania and Ukraine, together with international experts from Interpol and the OSCE, who shared their knowledge and expertise.

The OSCE Mobile Training Team was established by the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department in 2016. It is composed of 17 selected border and counter-terrorism experts from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation.