I. The EU-UNDP BOMCA Assistance Programme in Kyrgyzstan: Introduction

Kyrgyzstan borders China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Border infrastructure with China is relatively well developed, having been one of the external borders of the former Soviet Union. Other border sections are not yet fully delimited and demarcated, and border infrastructure is often very poor.

Southern borders are partially porous and are potential entry points for smuggling drugs and weapons, as well as for human trafficking. The Ferghana valley area is especially prone to volatility, and the high level of criminality associated with smuggling and human trafficking is a major destabilising factor.

The State Border Guard Service is the main beneficiary and the main counterpart of the BOMCA Programme. Other partners include the State Customs Service, the Veterinary and Phyto-sanitary Inspections of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Sanitary Epidemiology Surveillance Service of the Ministry of Health, as well as the Ministry of Interior.

The Government's strong commitment made it possible to form a legal basis for establishing the National Coordination Centre (NCC) in 2008. NCC is responsible for drafting an institutional reform strategy covering the whole border security sector. In cooperation with the BOMCA Programme, the Border Guards Service coordinates the work of NCC, the inter-agency approach to introduce the IBM approach in Kyrgyzstan and the contribution of the other nine state agencies in the process of developing strategic documents.

II. BOMCA's current phase in Kyrgyzstan

In response to the challenges the countries in Central Asia face on their borders, the European Union launched the BOMCA assistance programme in 2002. Its current phase includes the following activities in Kyrgyzstan:

Project 1: Institutional reform

Kyrgyzstan has embarked upon a major reform programme in the security sector focusing on border issues, and has decided to adopt an Integrated Border Management (IBM) approach to border management and European best practice. The country was conducting joint border control experiment with Kazakhstan at two border crossing points, however, with the introduction of the Customs Union between Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia on 1 July 2010 this exercise was stopped.

IBM is an approach which helps Governments to achieve two important goals within their border security strategy:

• To facilitate legitimate cross-border international trade and transit procedures;
• To effectively counter cross border smuggling in all its forms, increase the security of border regions and satisfy the needs of the State for information on cross-border transit.

One important objective of all IBM interventions is to continually move towards increasing national ownership of the above concept and for the development of national IBM strategies. Such ownership is currently most advanced in Kyrgyzstan where a presidential decree (February 2008) established the National Coordination Committee for IBM, to develop a national IBM strategy with an Action Plan. The strategy is in its final stages of development, awaiting Government approval.

As part of the Kyrgyz IBM strategy development, BOMCA is assisting with the preparation of a national Border Guards reform plan (based on the reform plan of the Hungarian Border Service). The reform plan foresees the gradual transformation into a professional border control service, the introduction of civil control over border activities and a review of the possibility of using operationally-mobile (police) methods to ensure security at the borders, rather than the current military style methods.

Project 2: Strengthening training capacities

Successful reform and transformation into a professional border control service (replacing conscripts with trained border officers) will require an increase in training capacity and the introduction of new training methods and modules in the current curricula. Therefore, BOMCA contributed much to the beneficiaries' capacity building through training infrastructure development projects and successfully delivered a new Training Centre of the State Border Guards Service in Novopokrovka with a dormitory facility, a Multi-Agency Dog Training Centre of the State Customs Service in Leninskoye, as well as training and laboratory facilities for the plant quarantine , the veterinary and the sanitary services in Bishkek. All training facilities are fully equipped.

BOMCA is conducting numerous skills training sessions for different audiences – middle-level commanders and executive level border guards – in various border control skills. Trainees and training requirements are selected and defined by the beneficiary and delivered by European experts.

Representatives of border control agencies from Kyrgyzstan took part in the Regional "Training-of-Trainers" course in Almaty in February 2010. The training focused on delivering teaching techniques and skills as well as the Integrated Border Management (IBM) Training Manual developed by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

In March 2010, twenty five representatives of the Kyrgyz border control agencies (State Border Guards Service, State Customs Service, Plant Quarantine, Veterinary and Sanitary Epidemiology Services) participated in an Integrated Border Management (IBM) skills training workshop. The training was a follow up activity to the ToT activity and aimed to spreading training techniques and skills to a wider national auditory through a combination of IBM interagency cooperation and field operations.

Within the BOMCA programme, beneficiaries receive training for dog handlers on a regional level. The comprehensive training programme for dog handlers improves their knowledge of dog handling techniques in searching for drugs and explosives. Participants are familiarised with EU best practice based on the methods practiced at the Canine School of the Austrian Police Academy.

Each graduate of a dog handlers' course is provided with a special outfit, a German shepherd dog, dog equipment and training materials. Upon successful completion of the course, students are awarded with the qualification of Certified Dog Handler, and take trained dogs to serve at border crossing points.

Project 3: Strengthening Infrastructure Capacities Along Trade and Transit Corridors in Central Asia

To strengthen infrastructure along trade and transit corridors in Central Asia, BOMCA activities in Kyrgyzstan have included construction of two Border Crossing Points – "Ak-Jol" at the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border and "Kara-Suu" at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

More than five hundred officers from the Border Service and the Customs Service received basic training in border control, profiling and search techniques, human rights and asylum rights, and computer based training. Training sessions on the use of intelligence sharing software, and basic counter narcotics techniques were held. Study tours were arranged for senior border staff to learn about border management in the European Union. Vehicles, HF radios, passport readers, drug detecting kits and computer equipment have been provided to the Border Service and the Customs Committee.

Project 4: Strengthening counter-drug capacities at borders

Drug Profiling Units (DPUs) have been established in all the countries in the Central Asian region in order to search for drugs and explosives, to apprehend suspected drug traffickers, and to collate and analyse information on illegal drug trafficking.

In Kyrgyzstan a Drug Profiling Unit has been established at Manas International Airport in Bishkek.

III. Coordination

Technical Level Donor Coordination Meetings are organised bi-annually and hosted the BOMCA programme in the country. The principal goal of the donor coordination meetings is to provide an opportunity for coordination and discussion on common aims to promote parallel funding from donor organizations and in-kind contributions to EU projects.

Regular meetings with the beneficiaries: Bi-annual Steering Committee Meetings are a useful vehicle for Kyrgyzstan to indicate and outline the country's priorities. Programme implementation is planned according to the decisions made by these committees.

The Central Asia Border Security Initiative (CABSI) conference is a coordination platform for all stakeholders in the areas of border management and drug control in Central Asia, while its objectives have been developed further to promote a comprehensive and sustainable integrated border management approach in the region. CABSI meetings take place once a year in Central Asia to discuss current border management and security activities and possible future cooperation.

IV. Major BOMCA activities in Kyrgyzstan during 2010

• Renovation of the inter-agency training room at the airport in Osh and a training centre affiliated to the Border Guards Service in Osh, along with the provision of equipment to both sites;
• Construction of a fully equipped border guard training centre (offices, classrooms and a conference hall) in Novopokrovka with a dormitory and a canteen;
• Construction of a dog training centre for the border guard service in Osh with relevant equipment, veterinary treatment facilities, a classroom and training area.
• An inter-agency dog training centre was constructed and equipped in Summer 2010;
• Renovation and provision of equipment to the training and laboratory facilities of the Veterinary and the Plant Quarantine Inspections of the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the State Sanitary–Epidemiological Inspection of the Ministry of Health in 2009-2010;
• New facilities at two international border crossing points (BCPs): Ak-Jol on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh and Kara-Suu on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border sections constructed, including fully equipped buildings for all border agencies;
• Equipment (passport-readers, drug and drug precursor chemical detection kits, vehicle search kits etc.) provided to 16 Border Posts of the State Border Guards Service in the Ferghana Valley;
• 20 vehicles and 30 HF radios provided to two Border Detachments in Batken Oblast to increase the mobility and effectiveness of the border guard service units responsible for preventing illegal cross border movements between the BCPs;
• 30 drug and explosive detecting dogs and handlers trained in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and now deployed at BCPs and airports throughout the country;
• 5 basic border control trainings and 5 trainings in IBM concept, profiling and search techniques, as well as human/asylum rights and risks analyses conducted;
• 3 cross-border IBM workshops at the Kazakh–Kyrgyz border;
• 5 IBM workshops and conferences;
• 7 study tours arranged to the EU countries for senior border managers to learn the European best-practices in border management. Two latest study tours were arranged to the EU training institution in Luebeck, Germany, in April 2010; and to the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the EU External Borders (FRONTEX) to Warsaw, Poland, in May 2010.

Training, equipment and infrastructure investments under BOMCA Programme in Kyrgyzstan for 2004-2010