ToT on HBM for Training Centres Instructors in Tajikistan

Dushanbe, Tajikistan, October 02, 2013 - IOM Tajikistan together with the IOM Regional Office in Vienna have successfully delivered a six-day Training of Trainers (ToT) on Humanitarian Border Management (HBM) for eight experienced instructors and two officials from the Border Forces Department of Tajikistan. 

The training in Tajikistan took place within IOM Tajikistan’s Integrated Cooperation Programme on Tajik-Afghan Border Security and Community Stabilization, a multi-year programme funded through the UK Conflict Pool that aims to build the trust and improve the capacity of Tajik and Afghan border management services, civil society, and border communities to reduce the drivers of conflicts in the region.

IOM’s newly developed training module on Humanitarian Border Management goes beyond the traditional scope of border and immigration controls; looking more thoroughly at the human being behind the documents presented at the border crossing points and trying to recognize if this person could be someone in need of international protection, immediate help and assistance, or a potential victim of trafficking or exploitation for various purposes.

The ToT for instructors from the Border Forces Department of Tajikistan continued a long line of cooperation between IOM and the border service.  In this context, further strengthening the resource pool that can function as experts and trainers is an essential step, not only in improving capacity, but also in attaining a broader objective of building trust and cooperation between Tajik and Afghan border forces to jointly respond to potential emergencies.

“This training significantly increased our instructors’ knowledge and skills in designing and delivering further series of tailored trainings to Tajik and Afghan border guards using Humanitarian Border Management training curricula. The border forces of Tajikistan have been cooperating with IOM for a considerably long time and during this period IOM has coordinated significant assistance in improving the effectiveness of the border control agencies, regulation of migration processes, strengthening of material-technical base and training of our instructing staff. We can surely state that the current level of cooperation and interaction of border forces with the IOM will let us to solve jointly set tasks in future too. I am sure that our interrelations in this direction will continue as well,” said Colonel Sobirjon Sharipov, Head of Border Control Department of Border Forces of State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan. 

IOM assisted in the establishment of two specialized training centres for border guards in the country in the capital Dushanbe and regional centre Khorog, along the Afghan border.  Joint trainings with Tajik and Afghan border personnel responsible for border and immigration control began in 2010, during which more than 250 persons have trained together. 

IOM will continue to provide joint trainings for Tajik and Afghan border guards on humanitarian border management throughout 2013 and 2014.