Anti-terrorism measures related to forgery of identity papers discussed in Yerevan

YEREVAN, 30 July 2002 - Participants at an anti-terrorism conference in Yerevan were told that the forgery of documents and illegal movement of people have both increased after the 11 September events.

The conference "Combating terrorism - measures for ensuring the security of identity papers/travel documents and preventing their counterfeiting, forgery and fraudulent use", held in Yerevan last week, attracted about 50 participants from the Armenian National Assembly, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Internal Affairs and National Security, as well as international experts and representatives of the diplomatic corps, to discuss the practical measures pertinent to the prevention of forged travel documents worldwide and in Armenia in specific.

At the opening, Armen Yeganyan, Head of the Consular Section of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed that the number of problems related to the forgery of documents, illegal migration and movement of people has significantly increased over the last few years, especially after the 11 September events.

Participants were exposed to the UK experience in preventing the fraudulent use of travel documents, German legislative and practical approaches to fraudulent document crime, the US perspective on combating terrorism, the Croatian organization of the border police and the situation regarding cross-border criminal activity related to travel documents, as well as to the programme implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the South Caucasus on capacity building in the migration management.

Speaking to journalists, Ambassador Roy Reeve, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, noted that the main purpose of the event was to identify existing problems in Armenia, and provide an opportunity for professional-to-professional dialogue, with a number of international experts sharing their experience with Armenian colleagues.

Vahan Hovhannessian, Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs, introduced the situation in Armenia from the legislative point of view and said that a draft law on combating terrorism would be discussed this autumn in the Parliament. He pointed out the importance of taking into account international criteria and experience in the elaboration and adoption of the respective legislation.

Other expert speakers described their work, by providing practical examples. Samples of false travel documents were also handed over to the Armenian representatives by foreign experts for use by border police officers on the ground and for training purposes.

The conference was organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, in co-operation with the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and funded by the Federal Republic of Germany.

Reference: The OSCE Office in Yerevan was established in February 2000 to promote the implementation of OSCE principles and commitments, as well as the co-operation of the Republic of Armenia within the OSCE framework in the human, political, economic and environmental dimensions of security and stability.