OSCE Border Management Staff College concludes its 34th Staff Course

The OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) concluded its 34th Staff Course on 24 March 2023. Twenty-three mid to senior-ranking security and management officials from border, customs, migration, internal affairs, maritime security, and drug control agencies attended the course.

They represented fourteen OSCE Participating States and Partners for Cooperation, namely Azerbaijan, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Moldova, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Turkmenistan.

The course was comprised of seven study modules. The core course curriculum covered border security and management in the context of the OSCE’s three-dimensional comprehensive security concept. Topics covered during the course included the promotion of border security and management in the OSCE area, border security, and management models, organizational management and leadership, as well as basic learning and teaching skills. Participants of the course were also engaged in group research projects related to and covering the OSCE’s three dimensions of security.        

A roundtable discussion entitled “Co-operation in countering the threat of trafficking in human beings in the context of border security and management” was also conducted in the framework of the course. The event presented a unique opportunity to discuss the threat of trafficking of human beings in an open forum with representatives of law-enforcement agencies from countries of origin and destinations of trafficked persons as well as international organizations working in the field.

In her closing remarks, Dr. Tea Jaliashvili, Acting Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, congratulated the participants and added that today, border guards and border control officials are under increased pressure, due to the ongoing conflicts in the OSCE region, and that she is confident, that the newly obtained knowledge has advanced their skills and capability enabling them to effectively respond to these new threats.

Beate Schmidt, a Deputy Intermediate Manager and a participant from Germany thanked the college for the unique opportunity and said that having a class as diverse in nations and characters to come and work together, posed the first challenge and yet was the most exciting part of the course. Ms. Schmidt enjoyed the Leadership and PNR/API sessions among all the other offerings and said that she would use the knowledge in reviewing her approach at the airport.

Elvin Orujov, a Deputy Head of Customs from Azerbaijan noted that the course represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him to enrich his professional knowledge on a wide variety of border-related subjects. He is going to implement certain points he learned in the course in his daily work such as SWOT analyses. He also noted the value of establishing professional connections and friendships that will last for many years to come.

This course concluded Phase II of the Border Management Staff College.