2022-04-05

Strengthening Youth Crime and Drug use Prevention through OSCE-Organized Second Workshop in Dushanbe

On 4-5 April 2022, the Transnational Threats Department and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, in cooperation with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek the second workshop on youth crime and drug use prevention was held in Dushanbe.

Dr. Alexander Wolters, Director of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, in his opening remarks, emphasized that only by a widespread and massive outreach into classrooms and in contact with most members of the young generation there is a chance to change things for the better and effectively combat with youth crime, organized crime, corruption and drug use. Eni Gjergji, Project manager, highlighted 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.

The agenda of the second seminar included a presentation of the questionnaire findings, filled out by participants during the first needs assessment workshop on 1 March, and a discussion of potential capacity needs in the field of preventing youth crime, corruption and drug use. Representatives of  Department of Awareness and Prevention of Minors and Youth, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RT; International Relations Department, Ministry of Education and Science of RT; Primary and Secondary Professional Education, Ministry of Education and Science of the RT; International Relations Department of the press center and public relations of the agency, Agency for State Financial Control and Fight against Corruption of the RT; Department for Drug Control and Prevention, Drug Control Agency under the President of Tajikistan; Committee on Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism under the Government of Tajikistan; secondary school teachers, university professors and civil society representatives participated in the workshop and identified priorities and thematic areas for further trainings in the field of youth crime and drug use prevention, and needs to strengthen educational programmes to foster youth’s understanding on the threats of organized crime, corruption and drug use.

The event will be followed by the development of a needs-tailored training-of-trainers programme, which is designed to train state actors, teachers, professors, and members of civil society on the use of the UNODC Education4Justice and Global Programme on Prevention materials. The materials provide educators guidance on the effective ways of training youth on the threats 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”. The project aims to prevent transnational organized crime, corruption and drug use, by complementing criminal justice efforts and promoting respect for the rule of law through education.

This extra-budgetary cross- dimensional project is funded by Germany.