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OVERVIEW
Working Together for Regional Security and Economic Development on the Moldovan-Ukrainian Border
The EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) was established in November 2005 at the joint request of the Presidents of Moldova and Ukraine, to assist with the modernization of management of their common border in accordance with European standards, and to help in the search for a resolution to the “frozen conflict” over the separatist Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova. (The region declared its independence in 1990, and armed conflict took place in 1992. International efforts to achieve a negotiated resolution to the conflict have so far not been successful.)
The Mission’s role is technical and advisory. It has no executive powers. Its role is to observe what goes on at the border and to help the Moldovan and Ukrainian border guard and customs services to bring their standards of border management up to European standards. EUBAM works together with the border services and other law enforcement agencies of Moldova and Ukraine to develop their professional capacity, so as to help them provide an efficient service to law-abiding people crossing the border, while tackling smuggling, illegal migration, and other criminal activity taking place across the common border, in particular involving its Transnistrian segment.
What EUBAM does?
The Mission’s staff is over 200, including around 120 customs and border experts from EU member states, assisted by Moldovan and Ukrainian nationals. The Mission is entirely funded by the European Union, initially from the Rapid Reaction Mechanism, then through the European Commission’s TACIS programme, and currently from its European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). A significant contribution is made by more than 20 individual EU Member States, which second their experts directly to the Mission to work at the border. UNDP is the Mission’s implementing partner, providing administrative and logistical back-up.
The Mission has its headquarters in Odesa, southern Ukraine, and has six field offices close to the border, three in Ukraine and three in Moldova. The Mission’s experts provide on the job advice and training, advice on possible structural and legislative reforms, and organise customized training events and study tours. It is also involved in an EC-funded project to deliver equipment. It has advisers on risk analysis working in the headquarters of the two countries’ border guard and customs services. A crucial part of the Mission’s work is to facilitate cooperation between Customs and Border Guards within each country and between Ukraine and Moldova.
The cooperation mechanism consists of an Advisory Board, which meets quarterly to guide and assess the work of the Mission. Its members include senior representatives of the of the Border Guards and Customs Services and Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Moldova and Ukraine, UNDP, the EU Special Representative for Moldova, the EU presidency and the OSCE. The Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs, Prosecutor’s Offices and Security Services of Moldova and Ukraine and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have the status of observers at Board meetings. Coordination is also conducted on a monthly basis at the level of headquarters of the border services, and at working level through liaison officers appointed by the services to work with the Mission.
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