Tajikistan - This week, the first group of 15 female border guards from Afghanistan and Tajikistan began a 10-day training programme at the Dushanbe Training Center for Border Guards established by IOM in 2009.

The programme, which is supported by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), will provide participants with practical skills and knowledge of border control concepts, migration and border legislation, political geography, human trafficking, human rights, and counter-narcotics. It will also include hands-on exercises at the Dushanbe International Airport and the Bratstvo Border Checkpoint at the Tajik-Uzbek frontier.

“Female border guards must develop the same capacities as their male counterparts in attentiveness, observation, and responsibility to perform border control tasks at a professional level.  These joint trainings with Tajiks and Afghans help considerably in improving their skills and allow us to share our learned knowledge from our daily duties at the border with them,” said Captain Donaeva Sayora, head-of-shift at the Khujand border checkpoint and the programme’s co-trainer.

Beyond the immediate objective of increasing the participants’ ability to manage border crossings and conduct patrols, the programme also builds towards furthering cooperation between the Tajik and Afghan border agencies and promoting the role of women as professionalized staff within the structures.

“A gender balance in a border service is necessary and important,” noted Sorijon Sharipov, deputy head of the Tajik Border Control Department. “We are happy to host our Afghan counterparts in Tajikistan,” he added.

Director of the US Embassy in Dushanbe’s INL Office Mark Wood said, “We are very pleased with the results of the programme and view this joint Tajik-Afghan training not only as an opportunity to build on cooperation between the border services of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but also as confirmation that women border guards are playing an increasingly important role in providing border security for their respective countries.”

As part of its wider efforts to promote women’s participation in border management in the region, IOM with the financial support of the US Government will continue to support the professionalization of female border guards from Tajikistan and Afghanistan with additional trainings through 2015.

For more information please contact

Khusrav Rajabov

IOM Tajikistan

Tel +992 90 4501 717

Email: krajabov@iom.int