22/02/2024
Bolivia joins the initiative already signed by Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru and supported by the Spanish National Police
The Minister of Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Carlos Eduardo del Castillo, and the Director of the European EUROFRONT programme, José Antonio Cambronero, today ratified their commitment to join the Athens Network with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.
This agreement, of which Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru are already members, is a pioneering initiative in the fight against the crime of false documents.
A verification centre will be set up in each of the countries, where counterfeit document specialists will offer identity and travel document verification services to the countries that make up the network. This network will in turn be linked to European centres, which will facilitate the exchange of information between the two regions.
This initiative is inspired by the Athens Point, an innovative experience developed by the Spanish National Police, and is part of the exchange of experiences between the institution and the representatives of the partner countries of the European EUROFRONT programme.
Athens Point acts as the Central Document Verification Office. Members of law enforcement agencies use it to resolve queries about the veracity of passports and travel documents. Athens Point officers resolve these queries based on their experience, databases, specimens and dealings with the country issuing the document. One of the advantages of this mechanism is that the queries refer only to the travel document and do not generate databases.
For the implementation of the Athens Point in Bolivia, European experts will provide training and technical assistance to officials of the National Directorate of Migration. In addition, a delegation of agents will complete their training in Spain, where they will learn first-hand about the work of the Athens Point in Madrid.
“This agreement is very important, Bolivia and the European Union are partners in the fight against organised crime“, said Michael Dóczy, Ambassador of the European Union in Bolivia, during the signing ceremony.
The Network will strengthen the fight against other related crimes, as document fraud is only the tip of the iceberg indicating the existence of other illicit activities, such as crimes against property, human trafficking, trafficking in human beings, child abduction, terrorism or irregular immigration.
In the words of the Minister of Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Carlos Eduardo del Castillo, “the Athens Network, led by EUROFRONT, is going to change the situation in Bolivia.
It will allow us to identify almost in real time whether foreign nationals arriving in our country have an original document or not. Those who counterfeit are linked to other illicit activities. We are very happy to join this network with the European Union. Now, fewer criminals will be at large.
The director of Component 1 of the EUROFRONT programme at FIIAPP, the Spanish Cooperation agency that facilitates cooperation between institutions, José Antonio Cambronero, stressed the importance of international cooperation and information exchange to prevent cross-border crime. “There are no simple answers to the challenge posed by transnational crime, the internal approach does not allow for a sufficient response: it is necessary for countries to work together in order to be effective”.
The Athens Network aims to respond to the increase in the crime of travel document counterfeiting and the use of increasingly sophisticated techniques by studying the documents detected and circulating information on the techniques used and modus operandi.
