The Regional Office for South East Asia of the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) this week concluded a two-day
border management training workshop for 21 immigration officers and
five officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vientiane.

The training, which focused on passport examination and imposter
recognition, took place at the Don Chan Palace Hotel in Vientiane
and facilitated by Sjef Broekhaar, IOM's leading regional border
management expert.

Senior officials attending the workshop included Mr. Phayvanh
Xayavong, Deputy Director, Domestic and International Co-ordination
Division,  Department of Immigration and Mr. Phousavanh 
Souphany, Deputy Director, Division of Management of Lao Abroad,
Consular Department.

Pol.Maj. Phayvanh  Sayavong, Deputy Director of Domestic
and International Coordination Division, Department of Immigration
closed the training and presented certificates to participants.

"IOM's mission is to facilitate humane and orderly migration and
an important part of this is reducing the use of fraudulent travel
documents, as these documents are often used by criminal elements
including human traffickers and smugglers," said Broekhaar.

"The training provided the officers with essential information
about the use, appearance and recognition of such documents. This
will help them to intercept both criminals and victims of crime at
borders, and when they apply for passports," he added.

IOM has developed a Passport Examination Procedure Manual which
advises officers on what to do if they have doubts about the
authenticity of a travel document.

This manual was used during the training and 30 copies were
handed over to the Government of the Lao PDR to be used as a
reference by immigration and consular officials in their daily
work.

For more information please contact:

Sjef Broekhaar

Tel: 662-343-9352

E-mail: "mailto:sbroekhaar@iom.int">sbroekhaar@iom.int