OSCE training fosters development of next cadre of document trainers for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

From 19 to 23 August, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department held a training-of-trainers course for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) in Warsaw, Poland. The training focused on identifying forged documents and impostors at border crossing points.

The hands-on training was delivered by two experts from the Main Forensic Centre of the SBGS to eight border guards, including five women and three men. With the knowledge acquired, participants will return to Ukraine’s border control points and train their fellow border guards on these key skills.

“The use of forged documents at checkpoints across the state border is constantly increasing, the priority task is awareness of the latest methods of forgery. As trainers, it was important to provide each inspector with the opportunity to practically work with a variety of forged documents, in order to deepen their understanding of the process of production, use and detection of forged documents,” noted Major Myroslava Andrushchyshyna, forensic expert at the SBGS Main Forensic Center.

According to Major Oleksii Markovskyi, forensic expert, “In these trainings, it is important not just to memorize, but to understand the cause-and-effect relationship of certain elements of document protection and their signs of forgery. Participants were taught to understand the logic of a forger who imitated security features in documents and, as a result, to produce tools for their prompt detection.”

At the start of the course, participants refreshed their knowledge of different types of documents, personalization and security techniques, and international standards involved in developing travel documents. Representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and the United Kingdom’s Home Office also presented on security features contained in U.S. and U.K. passports, as well as common forgery techniques and trends observed in their own investigations.

Participants discussed innovative methods to train fellow border guards to detect fake documents, developing a training programme based on the needs they identified. Each participant then presented to the group on a topic included in the basic course curriculum.

While the SBGS continues to confront the challenges caused by Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, participants noted the importance of these training opportunities to continue enhancing their skills as document inspectors.

This training marked the third step in the training cycle, in which every participant had previously completed the basic and advanced courses. The next and final step will be a study visit to Madrid, Spain in November 2024 to disseminate good practices and enhance knowledge of new technologies in detecting forged documents and impostors at border crossing points.

This project supports OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation in their efforts to reduce the number of people that manage to illegally cross borders using a fake or stolen identity or by posing as an impostor. The project is made possible through the generous financial support of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE.