Enhancing youth crime and drug use prevention through education on legality and awareness campaigns addressing threats of organized crime and corruption

Sustainable and effective societal resilience against organized crime, corruption and drug use starts with the societal group that is most vulnerable to those threats – youth. The world today is home to the largest generation of young people in our history (1.8 billion). The socio-economic impact of the pandemic has rendered youth across the entire OSCE area more vulnerable to the risks of corruption, as well as being recruited by criminal groups and becoming involved in organized crime. It has also exacerbated health risks by making youth across the OSCE region more susceptible to drug use. Education is an effective tool to prevent youth crime. Therefore, it is more important than ever to invest in prevention efforts and equip youth with the values and knowledge necessary to reduce their vulnerabilities of becoming either victims or offenders.  

In order to strengthen societal resilience against organized crime, corruption and drug use, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) launched a comprehensive extra-budgetary 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 at fostering a culture of lawfulness among youth through educational and social learning activities in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. In view of the current developments in Afghanistan and the destabilizing effect it has across the region, the initiative was launched in Central Asia in December 2021 in co-operation with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and in close co-ordination with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Through this project, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department/Strategic Police Matters Unit, and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities/Economic Governance Unit  provide comprehensive assistance and solutions tailored to the needs identified in each beneficiary State. They are also providing opportunities for a deeper discussion, exchange and co-operation among different stakeholders including security actors, schools, universities and civil society.

The first project goal is to enhance capacities of educators to teach youth on the dangers of corruption, organized crime and drug use, capitalizing on the existing UNODC materials. The focus will be on juvenile affairs inspectors, school teachers, university professors and civil society representatives. To achieve this goal, three activities are planned:

• Delivering strategic national needs-assessment workshops. These will bring together government representatives, school teachers, university professors and civil society to (i) raise awareness on existing UNODC training modules (Education4Justice and Global Programme on Prevention); (ii) foster exchange of best practices and establish partnerships across agencies and sectors; (iii) identify capacity gaps and training needs in the field of youth crime and drug use prevention.
• Developing national youth crime prevention training curricula for schools and academia and deliver train-the-trainers courses for juvenile affairs inspectors, school teachers, university professors and civil society, capitalizing on existing UNODC materials (Education4Justice and Global Programme on Prevention).
• Delivering regional youth crime prevention workshops. These will provide a platform for formalized dialogue, best-practice exchange and co-operation for peers on a regional level.

The second project goal is to improve youth’s knowledge and awareness on the detrimental impacts of organized crime, corruption and drug use, leveraging social media awareness campaigns. The project will:

• Roll-out social media awareness campaigns for youth on the dangers of organized crime, corruption and drug use. The campaigns will involve social media influencers, bloggers and youth opinion leaders to expand the reach and to enhance the impact of the campaign. It is expected that the awareness campaign will reach 1.2 million young people in each country, and 6.5 million in Central Asia.

The third project goal is to enhance youth participation in crime prevention efforts and to promote active engagement of civil society, women and families. The project will provide:

• Support to civil society, women, schools and academia to hold educational activities to strengthen youth understanding and resilience against organized crime, corruption and drug use, as well as to foster their engagement in prevention efforts.

Implemented in collaboration with a wide range of national stakeholders and in close co-ordination with relevant international organizations, OSCE executive structures and Field Operations, the project will leverage strategic partnerships and build synergies.