UN Counter-Terrorism Centre – GCTF Border Security Initiative - Second Regional Workshop on the Horn of Africa

The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss twelve draft good practices compiled as a result of previous meetings.

Key themes of discussion included:

While interagency cooperation is key for a successful border security and management (BSM) policy, governments should adopt tailored approaches on parameters to implement this cooperation.
Lack of resources, threats to border communities emanating from FTFs, communities’ protection from terrorist groups and detachment of border communities in remote border areas from the wider community have been identified as key challenges in engagement with border communities and in the field of community border policing.
Governments might consider authorizing the local border agencies and liaison officers to interact with their counterparts on the other side of the border as a way of effective information exchange.
Within the context of border surveillance, maritime borders need more attention.
Governments need to adopt a balanced approach while employing technology in the field of BSM.
Corruption and bribery have been identified as common risks which undermine overall efforts to devise and implement robust BSM policies.