Address by the President - ANNEX 1

XIV Congress of IBSSA 5th September 2009

Brussels / BELGIUM

Dear Members of IBSSA,

In the past one-year period under the global economic crisis public security deteriorated and almost all forms of crime increased all around the world.
In consideration of the good working information channels of IBSSA, and of our Website as well as our regular publications – which all provide wide report of affairs – now it is unnecessary to give full account. So I wish to emphasize only the most important news, events, results and future plans.

The IBSSA official annual publication, the “Bodyguard and Security Magazine” is published this year too, which introduce in detail the current situation and development of the IBSSA.

It is evident that with local methods the fight against the increasing globalization of crime and the more and more subsequent forms of crime is totally despairing! Our “Partnership” program, which was announced last year, is still actual and valid. In this spirit IBSSA has developed new cooperations with such international professional organisations, who undertook the fight against any of the segments of crime!

A fortunate coincidence that the General Secretary of “IC3O” – the inter-governmental organisation set up against internet child pornography – Mr. Tony Schiena is active Member of IBSSA, so the close cooperation between the two organisations developed self-evidently.

The collaboration between the civil security organisations and the official law enforcement agencies appreciated worldwide. In January 2009 IBSSA made an agreement on cooperation with the International Auxiliary Police Association (IAPA) in Florida, USA. Beyond the international cooperation between our organisations IBSSA pushes the collaboration of our national sections in different countries as well. Further opportunity is that all members of IBSSA can participate in the activities of civil guards.

The previous good collaboration between the Hungarian Sections of the International Police Association (IPA) and the IBSSA continued strengthening and this was also extended to other Central-European countries: Slovakia, Serbia, etc., thanks to those very active IBSSA members, who work in the leadership of IPA.

In June 2009 in Sarasota, Florida (USA) the top-level leadership of the International Union of Police Association (IUPA) welcomed the delegation of IBSSA leaders on an official meeting, and this time took place in a ceremonial atmosphere the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation between IUPA and IBSSA. This agreement is a milestone and a great recognition for us, because IUPA created official contact for the first time with such an organisation, which is not a professional law enforcement association. The leadership of IUPA – the most momentous police union of the American continent – was the first to recognise the significance and the necessity of the mutual cooperation with our association – representing the civil security sphere.

Remarkable development can be seen in the IBSSA activities regarding education and trainings as well. Today the Master Teachers' team of IBSSA – beyond question – already consists of the bests of the world. Concerning education close international cooperations are more and more typical and the content of participants is becoming more colourful.
The major result of this activity is the fact that Romania – one of the EU countries – has formally accredited the thematic professional training of IBSSA.
The IBSSA Master Teachers and Instructors participate continuously in the training of the professional law enforcement organisations' members in numerous countries, and the number of representatives of such organisations is also increasing on the IBSSA advanced training seminars.

Several countries from Asia and Africa contacted our association in order to provide them professional assistance and support in establishing national training centres in their own countries.

I am proud to report that within the framework of our close cooperation with the “Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories” (KMFAP) the best professionals and experts of IBSSA were set up to constitute the law enforcement services, the Magisterial Guard (State Police), as well as other security units of KMFAP, and our association organises the advanced training for these specialists too. During the last Knighthood Ceremony the performance of the Magisterial Guard was highly professional and remarkably good.

Quite a big development has been made in the activities of IBSSA – ISF, especially thanks to the great work of the President and the General Secretary of the International Sport Federation. About this development Dr. Rony Kluger – General Secretary of IBSSA will report separately.
Numerous events took place throughout the world mostly in the fields of martial arts and shooting. In July 2009 also the Horse riding Department of IBSSA organised a very high-level and up to par equestrian competition in Hungary.

Among the IBSSA members you can find the leaders of different organisations. Hereby we would like to congratulate Sir Marko Nicovic – Vice President of IBSSA, who was elected again to President of the World Karate Confederation (WKC) in June 2009, in Miami – USA during the yearly conference of WKC.

In the coming period the “Safety of Children and Families” and “Urban security” are still of special importance in our activities. Therefore we strengthen and broaden our cooperation with EFUS (European Forum for Urban Security), and with other professional organisations.

It is a special pleasure that the hosts of this year's IBSSA Congress are the members of IBSSA Belgium. We appreciate it very much that this significant event takes place the first time in the headquarters of the European Union.

The economic crisis of course affected also the members of IBSSA, we can feel it as support has been reduced significantly and the discipline of inappropriate payment of the membership fees deteriorated on. While the development, and the growing tasks require more and more money – our revenues decreased notably, and the existing budget deficit continued to increase. Without the support and offering of some active members the functioning of IBSSA would also have been in danger!

In view of the foregoing IBSSA started to distribute the “SPONSOR” Certificate and ID-card in wide range, and in this project we count on the great help of the current membership too!

I do believe that for the successful operation of an international organisation requires a real team-work! As President of IBSSA, I am extremely proud of my team, because their personalities and work embody quality. Without them it would be impossible to carry out effective and successful activities around the world. From the IBSSA leadership of more than hundred representatives more and more people work actively and carry out their voluntary social work with large responsibility and expertise!
The IBSSA Board of Directors is responsible to change all those people, who do not carry out the undertaken works, to such people, who are competent and willing to complete the tasks.

Hereby I would like to congratulate to all those IBSSA members, who will be handed over the well deserved awards, recognitions during the Congress, so appreciating their outstanding professional work, or other activities!

I wish much success and good health to all members of IBSSA and also wish that our association continued to develop, and our undoubted international prestige strengthened further!

Security is – despite of the global economic crisis – perhaps also nowadays the most important issue in the world. And in spite of the scarce financial facilities it can not be played down, because without security the world will not be able to operate normally.

With these issues heavy responsibility falls on all members and leaders of IBSSA and our professional goals are determined by this fact too. I firmly believe that in the future we will also correspond to the growing challenges, as our previous works and activities achieved high recognition in all professional and moral evaluation.

18th August 2009

Prof. George Popper
President of IBSSA