OSCE Border Management Staff College conducts its first course overseas

The OSCE Border Management Staff College concluded its first course overseas on 26 October 2018. The 22nd Border Management Staff Course for 21 mid- to senior-ranking official representing 15 countries, including Armenia, Australia, Cyprus, Georgia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine, was held at the premises of Legione Allievi, a training school of the Italian Financial Police, the Guardia di Finanza in Bari, Italy.

The one-month intensive professional development course was implemented with support from the Guardia di Finanza and the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department.

Brigadier General Vito Straziota, the commander of the Legione Allieve training school, stated that “this event gave us the occasion to share common knowledge and practices, developed by our own national judicial systems, and study their direct application in total synergy and real co-operation.”

Straziota said that this experience will help the OSCE to continue developing as an outlet for training border security and management officials to detect and intercept transnational threats within OSCE’s three-dimensional, comprehensive approach to security.

As one of the College’s core educational offerings, the Border Management Staff Course covered multiple topics within the OSCE’s three dimensions as well as a module on leadership and management, and a group research project. Two study visits were conducted to the Bari Air and Naval Ports, where Guardia di Finanza officers highlighted the operational side of their work, including through simulations of anti-smuggling operations at sea.

The course incorporated a roundtable discussion on co-operation in the prevention of trafficking in cultural property, where representatives of the Italian Carabinieri, the Guardia di Finanza, academia and international organizations emphasized the relevance of the threat to the field of border security and management, and provided insight on tackling it.

In addition to being the first staff course to be conducted outside of the College’s home campus in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the course became the first at the College to have more female participants than male. Fifty-two percent of the participants were female.

Jonathan Holland, Director of the Border Management Staff College said: “Our courses truly offer an international networking experience that cannot be replicated elsewhere.” He further emphasized that an additional incentive of being a part of the Border Management Staff College experience is the opportunity to become part of the vast alumni network, and build trust between colleagues and counterparts.