17 May 2021, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: As part of building capacities of the officers of the Air Cargo Control Unit (ACCU) at the Sarajevo International Airport, the UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme (CCP) organized a CCP Air Cargo workshop for 21 customs and border police officers, as well as representatives from the Directorate for Civil Aviation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Sarajevo Airport.
The workshop, held in the hybrid (online and in-person) modality, provided the participants with the opportunity to review training topics covered in previous training events, while introducing new information and approaches to successfully identifying and interdicting illicit cargo transiting through the Sarajevo International Airport.
The human rights module, which is part of the Basic Theoretical Training for the ACCU, was also introduced to the participants, focusing on key aspects of human rights in relation to law enforcement. Topics covered included, among others, human rights instruments, the code of conduct for law enforcement officials, application of human rights law and principles and measures pertaining to law enforcement violations of human rights.
In addition, and building on cooperation with other programmes, the UNODC Global Firearms Programme (GFP) also attended the event and presented activities implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the project “Halting Arms and Lawbreaking Trade” (HALT). The UNODC GFP representatives informed the participants about the gaps and needs analysis conducted jointly with the Customs of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the detection of firearms in postal and fast parcels and the standard operating procedures developed for the public and private sectors on the detection of firearms in postal and fast parcels.
The UNODC GFP also introduced its training tools on the identification of firearms, their parts and ammunition and shared information on two court cases concerning the trafficking of firearms across the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and through a postal parcel. The participants received feedback on the process of collecting evidence in arms trafficking cases and its importance for convicting arms traffickers, which resulted in the raised awareness of the criminal procedure requirements for the successful prosecution of firearms related cases. The activities of UNODC GFP in the framework of the HALT project are supported by Germany, UK, Netherlands, Sweden, France and Norway, and the EU through UN’s Western Balkans SALW Control Roadmap Trust Fund.
The workshop was carried out under the framework of the joint EU-UNODC action on promoting rule of law and good governance through targeted border control measures at ports and airports, funded by the European Union and implemented by CCP and AIRCOP in cooperation with the Regional Programme for South Eastern Europe.