News

Regional workshop on EU standards on identification, detention and return of irregular migrants was held in Tashkent on April 16-18, 2019 organized by BOMCA in cooperation with International Organization for Migration (IOM). The event was formatted as a mixture of a workshop and round-table discussions between the international experts on the one hand, and CA countries national experts working on the issue of identification, detention and return of irregular migrants, on the other hand.

On 09-11 April 2019 a workshop on online education for border guard and customs training institutions of Tajikistan was held in the Border Management Staff College of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The workshop was facilitated by BOMCA experts from State Border Guard and State Revenue Service of Latvia and gathered representatives of different training institutions of Tajikistan forming and retraining border guards and customs officers.

On March 27-29 Tashkent hosted a seminar on improving the efficiency of the customs control system. Representatives of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan presented their experience in introducing a risk management system to practitioners of the State Customs Committee teaching staff of the Customs Institute of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Participants studied the experience of organizing effective risk management at all levels of customs service (checkpoint, regional and central levels), familiarized themselves with the legal basis for the application of the risk management system, information collection and processing tools. Using the example of Kazakhstan, experts introduced to participants the effective methods of assessing the risk, identifying indicators and ways to minimize risks.

This BOMCA initiative is aimed at supporting cooperation between the educational institutions of the border and customs departments of the countries of Central Asia.

On March 18-20 in Kazakhstan workshop on E-learning methodology in training institutions of border guarding and customs institutions took place. The workshop, which was conducted in the premises of Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center for Combating the Illicit Drug Trafficking (CARICC) , was facilitated by BOMCA expert team and gathered representatives of different training institutions of Kazakhstan forming and retraining border guards and customs officers .

On 12-15 March, 2019 Tashkent hosted a regional workshop on modernization of customs procedures.

On March 12-14 in Almaty workshop on contingency planning on border checkpoints was held, gathering representatives of different state agencies of Kazakhstan– Border Service CNS RK, State Revenue Committee (customs), Ministry of Interior –Emergency Situation Committee, Border Guards Academy of the CNS RK, Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Border control standards were discussed during a regional workshop on border checks held in Ashgabat between February 19-21. A total of 15 border guards and customs officers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were trained to use modern techniques and apply international standards in carrying out border checks and to manage mixed migration flows in accordance with international standards. Participants shared their experience and discussed the issues of border control organisation in their countries - administrative rules, regime, tools and methods of control with a focus on flow management. FRONTEX experts presented latest technological solutions in border control. Also, the participants broadened their knowledges of international standards in provision of basic services to vulnerable migrant groups crossing the border - refugees. This means that border guards/customs officers must be able to correctly identify migrants and assess their needs, provide services or refer them to a service provider, and establish cooperation for effective migrant referral. A separate session was dedicated to border check ethics and public service standards, which include sensitivity to gender, ethnicity, protecting migrants' data and respecting migrants' rights and dignity.

During the visit the participants have had opportunity to visit the airport of Ashgabat, where Turkmen Migration Service demonstrated integrated IT technologies of border control.

On February 12-14, 2019, a group of European experts visited Dushanbe to hold a multilateral workshop for border agencies of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on law enforcement ethics and the fight against corruption.