OSCE strengthens inter-agency co-operation on youth crime prevention in Kyrgyzstan

From 1 to 3 October, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities organized a multi-stakeholder workshop in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, aimed at enhancing inter-agency collaboration on youth crime prevention.

The workshop brought together 30 representatives from law enforcement and social services, including participants from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The focus was on fostering effective co-operation between agencies to prevent at-risk young people, both women and men, from becoming involved in crime. Through interactive sessions, participants were able to identify, assess and prioritize real-life youth crime cases of youth crime while discussing strategies to address the underlying causes of criminal behaviour.

“Youth crime prevention is a priority for Kyrgyzstan,” said Nurzhan Adylova, Head of the Department of the Public Security Service within the Ministry of Interior stated. “This workshop was an effective platform for us to explore ways to improve co-operation between law enforcement, schools and social workers on working with and for youth to promote a culture of lawful behaviour from an early age.”

The workshop was part of the OSCE-wide multi-year extra-budgetary project titled “Enhancing youth crime and drug use prevention through education on legality and awareness campaigns addressing threats of organized crime and corruption”. The project was primarily funded by Germany, with additional support from Andorra, Finland, Italy, Norway and Poland.