OSCE organizes second youth crime and drug use prevention workshop in Dushanbe
On 4 and 5 April 2022, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, in co-operation with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), jointly hosted a two-day workshop on youth crime and drug use prevention in Dushanbe.
Government 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 Youth Affairs Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan, as well as educators and members of civil society attended the workshop.
The workshop participants learned about the existing UNODC training modules (Education4Justice and Global Programme on Prevention), which provide educators with guidance on how to teach youth on the dangers of organized crime, corruption and drug use. Participants , exchanged best practices, hereby fostering cross- agency cooperation, and identified capacity gaps and training needs, in the field of youth crime and drug use prevention.
Project managers from the OSCE Secretariat Transnational Threats Department and from the Office of the Co-ordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities emphasized that the OSCE stands ready, upon the request from Tajik authorities, to develop a tailored training-of-trainers programme for state actors, educators, and members of civil society, capitalizing on UNODC materials.
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.