On 27 and 28 June 2023, the OSCE, in co-operation with the German youth crime prevention initiative Kurve Kriegen, organized a study visit to Düsseldorf, Germany, on preventing juvenile delinquency for representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan.
Kurve Kriegen is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany aimed at identifying at-risk youth and preventing their involvement in criminal activities. The study visit enabled five practitioners from Kyrgyzstan (four women and one man) to learn how to promote a culture of lawfulness and integrity among young people and how to prevent at-risk youth from becoming involved in illicit activities. The visit also focused on the importance of leveraging collaboration between government agencies.
Cholpon Tabaldieva, Senior Detective of the Service for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, said: "The study visit is an excellent opportunity for us to explore ways to ensure effective 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."
Christopher Ursuleack, Criminologist at the Kurve Kriegen initiative, said: "Crime prevention work is most effective when it targets the most vulnerable youth at an early age. This core principle of Kurve Kriegen is one of the main messages we aimed to convey to our colleagues from Kyrgyzstan during their visit."
As a follow-up to the study visit, the representatives will discuss the creation of an action plan to partially replicate the Kurve Kriegen model within Kyrgyzstan to strengthen early identification and prevention of at-risk youth from being involved in criminal activities.
The study visit was held in the framework of the OSCE-wide multi-year project "Enhancing youth crime and drug use prevention through education on legality and awareness campaigns addressing threats of organized crime and corruption", implemented by the OSCE's Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities. The project is funded by Germany, with additional support from Andorra, Italy and Poland.
