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Inaugural conference on Enhancing the capacity of the Police (and Customs) Co-operation Centres in South Eastern European region, Skopje, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Description

The aim of the conference is to assess the Police (and Customs) Co-operation Centres (P(C)CCs’) technical and operational capacity to identify the gaps to be addressed in order to provide for better co-ordination, co-operation and real time information exchange mechanism among the border security and management services in the region.

Summary

2015 was a landmark year in the history of migration to Europe, with an unprecedented and constantly increasing flow of migrants making their way to the European Union (EU). Fleeing poverty and war mainly in the Middle East and Africa, more and more people embarked on perilous journeys to reach the safety of Europe. Since the eruption of the migration crisis, the affected OSCE pSs were systematically called upon to improve co-operation and co-ordination on border management matters.

The 10th Annual OSCE Border Security and Management National Focal Point Network (NFP Network) Meeting held in Berlin in April 2016, was devoted to promoting cross-border co-operation and confidence building to address the emerging threats and challenges in the OSCE region. It is notable that the participants devoted considerable time to describe the opportunities provided by the PCCs/PCCCs as a mechanism for co-operation and real-time information sharing both within the EU and beyond. For a number of years, the OSCE has promoted the use of PCCCs as one of the good practices of cross-border co-operation on both the strategic and policy level. Importantly, the aforementioned OSCE NFP Network Meeting concluded that "to provide for better situational awareness in the region and better networking among the PCCs/PCCCs, there is a need for technical assistance and capacity building provision to the PCCs/PCCCs in the SEE region which the OSCE, as a regional security co-operation organization, was invited to consider.

The Transnational Threats Department/Border Security and Management Unit (TNTD/BSMU) in co-operation with the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office is launching the project on “Supporting the development and sustainable operation of regional co-operation mechanism by means of enhancing the capacity of the Police (and Customs) Co-operation Centres (P(C)CCs’) in South Eastern Europe (SEE) region”.