OSCE concludes training seminars on document security in Kazakhstan

The third stage of an OSCE-supported train-the-trainer course on detecting forged travel documents and identification techniques for 20 border service officers concluded in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 8 November 2019.

The OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan organized the five-day course in co-operation with the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Programme of the United States Embassy in Nur-Sultan, the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their Precursors (CARICC), and the Border Guard Service under the National Security Committee. The training course was supported by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department’s Travel Document Security Programme.

Experts from the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior developed a tailor-made programme for Kazakhstan’s officers of the National Security Committee’s Border Service. Participants continued to learn about personalization and forgery techniques, laminate safeguards in passport production, diffractive optically variable image devices, the theory of light and colour, biometrics in travel documents and passenger assessment techniques. Experts presented samples of real and forged travel documents for the participants to analyze and assess their authenticity.

During exercises, the participants practiced methods of detecting a forged or counterfeit passport using various identification techniques, risk profiling, and picture-to-picture comparison methods.

Experts provided the participants with illuminated magnifiers and USB-digital microscopes to allow the border control officers to apply their acquired skills.

The seminar is a follow-up to two previous courses on document security held in Almaty earlier this year.