22 August – 2 September, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Türkiye,– The Republic of Tajikistan currently hosts the largest number of refugees in Central Asia. In January 2023, the official figures from the Government of Tajikistan show more than 8,000 refugees and 1,300 asylum seekers in the country. As a result, a key priority, both of the Government of Tajikistan and the international community, has been to bolster Tajikistan’s humanitarian border management.

Over the last two years, IOM Tajikistan has been implementing several projects developed within IOM and UNHCR’s regional response to the crisis in Afghanistan. These projects were designed to support humanitarian and protection needs of refugees and hosting communities in Tajikistan.

Over the past few years, within its border governance programmes, IOM Tajikistan has delivered 85 capacity building trainings on “Humanitarian Border Management” (HBM) for the employees of the Border Forces of Tajikistan (BFT). The HBM trainings have been designed by IOM to address topics such as:

• Human/Fundamental Rights of Migrants
• Vulnerable Migrants in Mixed Migration Flows
• Contingency Planning in Pre-Crisis Scenarios
• Humanitarian Border Management in Crisis Situations
• Migration Health

 In order to provide the Border Forces of Tajikistan with some real-life case studies, IOM organized a study tour for seven officials from the BFT to show international humanitarian responses to large-scale cross-border migration flows and mobility patterns caused by crises.

Border officials visited six temporary residence centres for migrants and refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and Türkiye, and met with their counterparts in these countries. They learnt how humanitarian assistance to people in crisis situations is organized during and after mass flows of migrants across borders. As a result of the study tour, the participants reported having greater skills and knowledge of border management practices that are in line with international standards.

This study trip was made possible with funds from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, US, Government, and was implemented and coordinated by the International Organisation for Migration.