On 7 and 8 May, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), in co-operation with the OSCE Presence in Albania, organized a multi-stakeholder workshop to enhance inter-agency co-operation on youth crime prevention.

The workshop gathered representatives from the Albanian Ministry of Justice Juvenile Crime Prevention Center, the State Police, and the Agency on Child Rights and Protection alongside child protection specialists and representatives from municipalities to discuss youth crime trends, risks and protective factors. Discussions focused on how the different agencies can effectively work together to identify young women and men at risk of involvement in crime, assess and prioritize these cases, and address the root causes leading to youth crime.

Klaudia Hasanllari, Director of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Center in Albania stated said: “Youth crime is a symptom of complex underlying root causes. These may include socio-economic risk factors, neglect, and violence in the family or a criminal peer group. Inter-agency dialogue and co-operation is crucial to effectively understand, identify and address the underlying risk factors of youth criminality.”

The workshop was implemented under the OSCE-wide multi-year extra-budgetary project “Enhancing youth crime and drug use prevention through education on legality and awareness campaigns addressing threats of organized crime and corruption” funded by Italy. Other donors supporting this project are Andorra, Finland, Germany, Norway and Poland. The OSCE will continue to support Albanian institutions in  strengthening multi-stakeholder approaches to youth crime prevention.