September 25, 2015

OSCE training in Ukraine focuses on detecting forged travel documents

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CHERKASY, Ukraine – An advanced training course for Ukrainian border control officers aimed at increasing their practical abilities to detect forged travel documents began here on September 7.

Two back-to-back one-week intensive training courses, organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),  are designed to update and sharpen the skills of 42 border control officers in detecting forged travel documents by disseminating knowledge on the security features of passports common in the region, diverse visas, framework of various visa regimes and many other document security features.

The first two trainings in a series of five courses aim to build on the existing skills of officers related to travel document security, seek to complement and add to them through in-depth knowledge about the manufacturing process, as well as the latest trends in counterfeiting methods and means of identifying them.

“Travel documents are desirable tools for criminals and terrorist groups to facilitate trafficking, financial fraud, espionage, people smuggling or other crimes,” said Simon Deignan from the OSCE Transnational Threats Department. “Without the ability to travel freely that a travel document allows, terrorists and criminals can be impeded, thereby reducing their reach and impact.”

A key focus of the interactive sessions is on exercising practical work on original, forged and false documents, as well as understanding and using forensic equipment to identify document forgery.

This training course has been well received by the OSCE participating states; the OSCE organized a similar course for Turkish border guards in Istanbul in 2014 followed by a study visit of Turkish officers to Vienna.

The courses are organized by the OSCE Secretariat’s Transnational Threats Department/Action against Terrorism Unit (TNTD/ATU), in cooperation with the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) of the U.S. Department of Justice. They are conducted by two document advisors from the Austrian Ministry of the Interior.

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