UNODC/OSCE organize regional conference on Border Security in SEE

UNODC jointly with OSCE hosted a regional conference for Directors of Border Police and Customs agencies from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo under UNSCR 1244 as well as Greece.

The conference aimed to address current and future challenges as well as share best practices for border security and management. Accordingly, the event helped key border security and management agencies in the region to identify effective joint responses to emerging and existing transnational threats posed by criminal networks.

UNODC experts from the Human Trafficking Migrant Smuggling Section, the Global Programme on Money laundering and Countering Terrorist Financing as well as the UNODC-WCO-INTERPOL Airport Communication Project (AIRCOP) and UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme (CCP) joined the conference and highlighted current UNODC engagement and commitment in the region in the framework of the UNODC Regional Programme for South Eastern Europe.

In its statement, UNODC underscored that, across its mandate, the Office seeks to improve effectiveness and develop synergies between law enforcement actors at various levels and build bridges between various thematic areas as well as between the Western Balkans and other regions, improving the security situation in the Western Balkans and Europe as a whole, in line with the UNODC promoted Inter-Regional Drug Control Approach and its “Networking the Networks” initiative.

The cooperation between UNODC and OSCE is currently led by the Joint Action Plan 2020 – 2022 signed in July 2020, which reflects the contributions of both organizations to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and allows for a more streamlined cooperation in nine subject areas. It is a strategy-level document outlining the main issue areas where the two organizations can implement joint actions at country, regional and global level building on the comparative advantage of both offices.