OSCE organizes intensive training course in Madrid on border management for its Mediterranean Points of Contact Network

Members of the OSCE Mediterranean Points of Contact Network on border security and management completed an intensive and interactive five-day training course on various topics related to migration and border security. The course was held from 22 to 26 October 2018 at the premises of the International Co-operation Division of the Spanish National Police in Madrid.

Organized by the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, in close co-operation with the Spanish National Police (La Policia Nacional), the training course brought together 22 members of the Network, which was created in 2017. The high-level participants represented the border and customs services of Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

Due to their long-standing and successful co-operation with the OSCE and the central role of Spain in the Mediterranean region in the field of border security and management, experts from the Spanish National Police shared their good practices on how to address challenges regarding migration flows at the borders as well as cross-border threats linked to terrorism and organized crime.  

The participants covered differences between the smuggling and trafficking of human beings, the respective legal frameworks in the Mediterranean region and interviewing techniques to be used when working with human trafficking victims. They also engaged in practical exercises on maritime border protection, the identification of potential foreign terrorist fighters at border crossings, the international protection of migrant children, and mainstreaming gender in the security sector.

Experts from FRONTEX, Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, the International Organization for Migration, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Spanish Red Cross, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime together with staff from the OSCE’s Border Security and Management Unit conducted the course.

This training course was the fifth activity of a multi-year OSCE initiative aimed at strengthening co-operation mechanisms between the border security and management agencies of the OSCE participating States and the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation.