IOM - Free Movement, Secure Borders: Analysing the Facilitated Transit Scheme

Representatives at the on-the-job seminar during a trip from Kaliningrad
to Vilnius in a specially equipped train carriage © IOM 2005, Audra Sipaviciene

Summary

Free movement of people is a fundamental human right and a pillar of the democratization process. However, uncontrolled free movement of individuals poses a range of security concerns, particularly for transit countries. The use of a special facilitated transit order for movements of Russian citizens to Kaliningrad via Lithuania is an experimental attempt to combine security with democratic development. This project will bring together officials from Lithuania and Kaliningrad as well as legal experts and practitioners to analyse experiences from the first two years of implementation of the Facilitated Transit Scheme through an interactive “on-the-job” seminar. This will be followed by recommendations for improving performance and efficiency at each stage of the implementation process, based on the seminar and specialized research, that will be collated in a specialized manual providing guidelines for officials involved at all levels in the implementation of the Facilitated Transit Scheme.