On 1 March 2022 the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities and the OSCE Transnational Threats Department in cooperation with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek organized a Workshop on “Strengthening Youth Crime and Drug use Prevention” in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The event brought together representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Agency for State Financial Control and Fight against Corruption, the Drug Control Agency, and the Committee for Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of the Republic Tajikistan, as well as school teachers, university professors and civil society experts to discuss trends, challenges, lessons learned and best practices in the field of youth crime and drug use prevention, and the need to strengthen educational programmes to foster youth’s understanding on the threats of organized crime, corruption and drug use.
In his opening speech, Dr. Alexander Wolters, Director of the OSCE Academy, noted "We hope this project will make a difference in attracting young people away from these temptations (youth crime, drug use) but to concentrate by means of education to build up better livelihood in the future." Kamolzoda Ilhom, Head of the Department of International Relations, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan, highlighted the importance of education in preventing youth crime and drug use, as well as emphasized how the workshop will help as effective platform for participants to exchange best practices and enrich their experience and knowledge in the field of youth crime and drug use. Eni Gjergji and Denise Mazzolani, Project Managers, OSCE Secretariat, emphasized that the OSCE stands ready to assist the Republic of Tajikistan in implementing their National Drug Control Strategy and the State Anti-Corruption Strategy, fostering prevention of these phenomena through educating youth.
During the workshop, experts from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) introduced the UNODC Education4Justice and Global Programme on Prevention materials, which provide educators with guidance on how to teach youth on the dangers of organized crime, corruption and drug use.
The workshop was held in the framework of the OSCE-wide project “Enhancing youth crime and drug use prevention through education on legality and awareness campaigns addressing threats of organized crime and corruption”. This extra-budgetary project, financed by Germany, aims to prevent transnational organized crime, corruption and drug use by complementing criminal justice efforts, fostering a culture of lawfulness among youth through education, and other social activities.