10/11/2023

Today’s certificate award ceremony marked the completion of the training "Joint Efforts in Capacity Strengthening: Border Protection with Respect for Human Rights". The training was organized and implemented for 15 border police officers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with the Police Academy "Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik ".

A team of lecturers of the Croatian academy, consisting of Martina Grdinić, Robert Kralj, Dubravko Žurga, Siniša Jasić, Mato Kozina and Krešimir Kaniža, was led by the deputy head Mirjana Abramović. The training was conducted in accordance with the Joint Curriculum, which was signed in May of this year by the head of the Police Academy "Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik " Josip Ćelić and director of the Agency for Education and Professional Training, Marko Vujević based on the Agreement on police cooperation and fight against cross-border crime (2010) of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While attending today’s ceremony, Josip Ćelić emphasized the high level of professionalism in cooperation between AEPTM and PA PHR. The Croatian police academy, he said, sent the best instructors to the training in Mostar. "The certificates you receive will not be a dot on the "i" unless you apply everything you have learned in practice. Your role in protecting the state border, while respecting human rights, as well as all those laws that are placed before you, is extremely important. We are always under a burden because we have to apply a variety of laws and if we are not sufficiently educated and professional then we tend to make a lot of mistakes. And once we make a mistake, the internal policy, both here and everywhere in the world, is rigorous, and treats you as if you did something on purpose, which you didn't. And that's why education is extremely important. My message to you is to keep improving your skills and knowledge. Our role is to convey knowledge. Our instructors do it wholeheartedly, they are experienced and follow the situation on the field" - said Josip Ćelić. Referring to the problem of illegal migration and the situation that awaits us, Ćelić pointed out that it might be difficult to estimate whether it could last one year, five or twenty years. "If you know that 250 million people are in illegal migration in the world, then you know that the extensive work is in front of us. We have been dealing with the migration issue since 2015. We want to enforce the law that is clear to us, and we have succeeded in that, thanks to the excellent cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without the close cooperation of BiH and the Republic of Croatia, there is no success and you can always rely on us, " concluded the head of the Police Academy "Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik".  The director of the Agency for Education and Professional Training, Marko Vujević thanked his Croatian colleagues and said to be satisfied with the intensification of cooperation between the two institutions, which is reflected in the interactive training of border police officers. He highlighted the goals of the training conducted according to FRONTEX standards, which aims to show and support the best practice related to the performance of border police duties in the segment of border protection and compensatory measures. "Most of the training is based on the exercises in simulated conditions of state border protection. The purpose of the approach is to conduct the theoretical part of the lecture in real situations in order to implement the best practices of state border protection in the work of police officers. In this way, the AEPTM contributes to solving the problems related to migrant crisis and protection of the state border," Vujević concluded.

The BiH border police officers, through the Agency for Education and Professional Training, had previously attended these trainings at the Valbandon Education Center of the PA "Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik", where they had the opportunity to further develop their competencies and exchange experiences with the border police officers from other European countries. In cooperation with the Croatian colleagues, three series of trainings were agreed to take place at AEPTM in 2023. The first was realized in May, the second one has ended today, while the third  one will start on Monday, November 13, 2023.

At the end of his visit, the head of the Croatian Police Academy donated books for the library of the Agency for Education and Professional Training, which consist of specialist books and magazines published by the MoI of the Republic of Croatia (PA "Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik").