Officers of the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) will on today begin intensive in-service training in immigration formalities for two weeks. The training starts on today, June 16 and ends on June 29, 2024, bringing together hundreds of LIS officers across the country at Gbarnga Regional Hub.
The training is supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a major developmental partner of the Government of Liberia (GOL).
According to information gathered, the training should have been for one week, but due to the intervention of the new administration of the LIS, headed by Atty. Stephen Zargo, and his principal deputies, authorities of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) agreed to extent it by an additional one week.
Ten days of the training is being supported by the UNDP, while the remaining four days is supported by the LIS. About one hundred and forty (140) officers from the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS), male and female, are undergoing the in-service immigration formalities at the Gbarnga Regional Hub, central Liberia. The two-week intensive security in-service training focuses on topics such as gender and human rights, migration management, trafficking in person (TIP)/ migrants smuggling, fraudulent document detection, border management and operations, ECOWAS protocol on free movement of persons and goods, international organization and diplomatic immunities, professional ethics/code of conduct, immigration formalities at exit ports: land, sea and air procedures, and naturalization/deportation procedures.
The other parts of the training will highlight report writing, travel document (security features), communication, techniques of investigation, drill & ceremony, among others. The Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) says it has to ensure that the territorial boundaries of Liberia are protected, and that LIS officers at entry points in the country are abreast of their responsibilities when discharging their function.
UNDP has over the years provided support to the development of LIS. Thousands of LIS officers are benefitting from the UNDP-supported in-service training at the Gbarnga Regional Hub, Bong County. According to information gathered, the on-going in-service training will be the last UNDP-supported training for the LIS.