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Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has trained 81 border guards from six Western Balkan countries during the first year of the IPA II project.

The “Regional Support to Protection-Sensitive Migration Management in the Western Balkans and Turkey” (IPA II) is funded by the EU and coordinated jointly by Frontex, EASO, IOM and UNHCR. Its main aim is to introduce and share EU standards and best practices on migration management. Frontex and its partners support the target countries in developing a protection-sensitive response to mixed migration flows by strengthening their identification, registration, referral, asylum systems and return mechanisms, in line with EU policies.

In the course of the project's first year, Frontex organised six regional trainings in combatting trafficking in human beings, detection of falsified documents, identification and screening of nationality, as well as courses in interviewing techniques. The training activities were supported by experts from Member States.

Frontex organised the courses for border authorities who will train their national services in the future.

The IPA II project was launched in Belgrade in March 2016. National training courses, as well as further support in registration, referral, asylum and return mechanisms will continue to be organised under the IPA II project in 2017 and 2018.