OSCE Mobile Training Team trains Serbian border officers in identifying foreign terrorist fighters

The OSCE Mobile Training Team delivered an interactive training course on the identification of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) for 25 first- and second-line Serbian border officers as well as officials of the country’s Security Information Agency from 12 to 14 November 2019 in Belgrade.

The three-day course was held at the facilities of the Academy of Criminal and Police Studies and provided interactive training to the participants on international, regional and national legal frameworks, the effective use of INTERPOL databases, Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record Systems, and travel document security. Sessions explored risk analysis and management in the identification of potential FTFs at borders as well as behavioral indicators of FTFs and interviewing techniques.

“This training is one of three planned courses with the OSCE aimed at expanding border security co-operation and enhancing the capacity of police officers in identifying and detecting counterfeit documents, and identifying and detecting foreign terrorist fighters at the borders,” said Slobodan Copic, Head of the Compensatory Measures Unit of the Border Police Directorate at Serbia’s Ministry of Interior. “Considering the complexity of this topic, this training will deepen knowledge and skills of border officers in this area, which they will apply in their daily work.”

Albina Yakubova, Programme Management Officer at the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, said: “A famous politician once said that success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts. When it comes to the identification of FTFs at the borders, it is crucial to learn from our lessons and apply new and innovative methods to prevent cross-border movement of FTFs and other criminals. This training provides such an opportunity.”

The Mobile Training Team was represented by national border officers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and North Macedonia as well as international experts from INTERPOL, the OSCE and the United States of America.

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.  

This is the twelfth deployment of the Mobile Training Team organized by the Border Security and Management Unit. The training in Belgrade was organized with close support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Serbian Border Police Directorate.