Thailand - The UN Migration Agency (IOM), in cooperation with the Thai Immigration Bureau, organized last week a three-day workshop in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai, to train 15 Thai and 11 Malaysian immigration officers on integrated border management.

The training was designed to improve cooperation and information-sharing between the two immigration services and covered themes of common interest, including transnational policing, behavioural assessment, security questioning and fraudulent document identification.

A simulation exercise was carried out on the final day of the workshop to allow Thai officers and their Malaysian counterparts to practice working together, in planning and implementing joint investigation of human smuggling and trafficking cases.

“Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are transnational crimes and require concerted and coordinated efforts by governments,” said Joshua Hart, an IOM Thailand project manager.

“Cross-border trainings like these strengthen relationships between frontline immigration officers and help promote the kind of harmonized border management practices that are needed to combat these crimes,” he added.

The workshop was the last in a series of four cross-border trainings involving officials in Thailand and three neighbouring countries – Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia.

The trainings, which were part of a Canadian-funded IOM project, Strengthening Border Management and Intelligence Capacity of Thai Government Officials, involved a total of 116 immigration officers from the four countries.

Under the project, IOM will continue to work with the Thai Immigration Bureau in the coming months, organizing workshops on transnational crime and facilitating cross-border dialogue with immigration officials from neighbouring countries.

Border management is a priority issue for Thailand, which has land borders with Malaysia, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) and Myanmar. Transnational crime, including illicit drug trafficking, trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling, are issues of grave concern for Thailand and the region.

For further information, please contact IOM Thailand: Joshua Hart, Tel: +66 2 343 9341, Email: jhart@iom.int or Reuben Lim, Tel: +66 2 343 9370, Email: rlim@iom.int.