Tajik rescuers complete the first round of OSCE-EU organized training course on emergency responses

Twenty rescuers of Tajikistan’s Committee of Emergency Situation and Civil Defence completed a four-week training course on 10 October 2020 to improve their skills on conducting field-based emergency response operations in challenging conditions, which they commonly face while performing their duties. The course funded by the European Union was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe in co-operation with the Committee.

During the course they covered legal, gender and human rights aspects of conducting search and rescue operations; the use of mountaineering equipment and techniques; skills to enhance their reading of military and topographic maps; trace tracking; and search and rescue techniques in rivers, mudflows and mountainous areas.

The Committee’s representatives and OSCE experts conducted the training course.

“We are pleased to see that civil protection capacity is further strengthened through this enhanced co-operation in the region. In particular between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, where security and civil protection co-operation is crucial for mobilizing an effective emergency response in the shared border areas. I am confident that these kinds of training courses help in making rescue- and emergency operations both more efficient, and contribute to saving additional lives and livelihoods on both sides of the borders,” said Ambassador Marilyn Josefson, Head of the EU Delegation to Tajikistan.

"I thank the leadership of Tajikistan’s Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence for their support in organizing this training course, which helped 20 rescuers to enhance their skills in emergency response,” said Valeriu Chiveri, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe. “At the same time I look forward to our Office’s co-operation with the Committee on the second round of the training course within the framework of this project, which is being conducted thanks to the financial support of the European Union.”

This was the first in a series of training courses within the 18-month EU-funded project, “Stabilization of Tajikistan’s southern border region with Afghanistan”, which is designed to strengthen the capacity of the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence. The aim of the project is to address various threats and risks related to natural disasters, which Tajikistan frequently faces across the country and - in particular - along its southern border. The project is implemented by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe.

The EU has promoted security and effective border management in Tajikistan since 2003, notably through the regional Border Management Central Asia Programme (BOMCA) and the Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP). Through the EU’s Foreign Policy Instrument contributing to Peace and Stability, the EU helps build critical infrastructure in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, helps stabilize border regions, promote cross-border dialogue for tolerance and peace, and support activities aimed at preventing violent extremism and disinformation.