OSCE organizes workshops on youth crime and drug use prevention in Tashkent

The Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities and the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, co-organized together with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, workshops on 9, 29 and 30 March 2022 in Tashkent on best practices and challenges in the field of youth crime and drug use prevention. The workshops also addressed the need to strengthen educational programmes to foster youth’s understanding of these threats.

The workshops brought together representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Public Education, the Ministry for Higher and Specialized Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry for Support of Mahalla and Elders, the Agency for Youth Affairs, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Center on Drug Control, the Prosecutor General’s Office for Combating Economic Crimes, and school teachers, university professors and civil society experts.

Upon the request from Uzbek authorities, a tailored training-of-trainers programme will be developed. The programme will focus on training state actors, teachers, professors, and members of civil society on the use of the UNODC Education4Justice and Global Programme on Prevention materials. These training manuals introduced during these workshops provide guidance on effective ways of educating youth on the threats of organized crime, corruption and drug use.

In his opening remarks, Akbar Tagaev, Head of Department of the Ministry of Public Education emphasized: “The Uzbek government recognizes that investing in prevention of crime, corruption and drug use among youth is more effective than fighting its consequences. To effectively prevent these threats among youth, we need to expand the knowledge of young people, to strengthen their immunity against organized crime, corruption and drug use”.

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 to assist the Republic of Uzbekistan in fostering prevention of organized crime, corruption and drug use by improving youth education on these threats.

The workshops were 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, financed by Germany, 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.