The International High-Level Conference on “International and Regional Border Security and Management Cooperation to Counter Terrorism and Prevent the Movement of Terrorists” is kicking off in Dushanbe today. 

According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), this two-day conference is co-organized by the Government of Tajikistan, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union (EU), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the State of Qatar.

The conference is reportedly aimed at promoting bilateral, sub-regional, regional, and international cooperation to improve border and customs controls in order to prevent and detect the movement of terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, conventional ammunition and explosives, nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological weapons and materials, and to take measures on border security and management, criminal justice, and information‑sharing in accordance with international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international refugee law.

This Conference is part of the “Dushanbe Process” launched in May 2018, when the first High-Level International Conference of the process on "Countering Terrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism" (Dushanbe, May 3-4, 2018) was jointly convened in partnership with the Government of Tajikistan, UN agencies, the OSCE and the EU.

The UNOCT High-Level Conference of the process on “International and Regional Cooperation on Countering Terrorism and its Financing through Illicit Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime” was convened in Dushanbe on May 16-17, 2019.

The Conference reportedly includes a High-Level Opening Session with the participation of the Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, UNOCT Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov and a number of Government Ministers and other senior officials from the region and abroad.

The International High-Level Dushanbe Conference will conclude with the adoption of the Dushanbe Declaration on Border Security and Management Cooperation to Counter Terrorism and Prevent the Movement of Terrorists.