The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in cooperation with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and prominent experts in the field of documents security Andree ten Caat and Jody Schuurman from the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee and Tibor Covacs from Slovakia conducted a training for 20 customs officials from the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine on 14-16 October in Kyiv.

The training focused on strengthening the capacity of qualified document experts and advisors to detect forged and falsified documents. The different training modules covered risk analysis in the field of document security, document security features, profiling, identification of forged and falsified documents, security check systems and required competences of the specialized operational staff working on document security. The experts presented EU best practices and introduced the participants to the latest innovations in the field of document security.                         

The trainers were positively surprised with the capacity of the Belarusian and Ukrainian participants to quickly absorb new knowledge and highly evaluated the trainees throughout a series of practical exercises and the final test.

Background:

This training is part of the European Union-funded project “Support to the creation of an electronic system of pre-arrival information exchange between the customs authorities of Belarus and Ukraine – PRINEX”. The project is implemented by the International Organization on Migration (IOM) in partnership with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), which oversees PRINEX’ training component. The project activities include regular cross-border meetings and working groups to strengthen coordination and cooperation, hardware and software procurement, training workshops and study visits on risk analysis, document security, the fight against smuggling of goods and corruption, and information campaigns on the benefits of the new pre-arrival information exchange system for the local population at large and commercial carriers. The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine are the recipients of the international technical assistance provided in the framework of the PRINEX project. 

For more information about the project, please contact:

Ms. Monika Weber, ICMPD Project Manager, monika.weber@icmpd.org

Mr. Andrei Zaitsev, IOM Project Coordinator, azaitsev@iom.int