Central Asian youth develop policy recommendations on preventing youth crime at OSCE forum

From 13 to 17 October, the OSCE Secretariat organized the second Central Asian Youth Dialogue Forum on Youth Crime Prevention in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. The event brought together around 20 young leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to develop policy recommendations and strengthen youth-led resilience and prevention initiatives across the region.

The Forum served as a regional platform for young people to identify and discuss pressing security challenges related to organized crime and corruption affecting their peers. Through interactive sessions, participants developed concrete policy proposals and innovative ideas to enhance prevention efforts and strengthen youth engagement in policymaking. Their recommendations were presented to representatives of the donor community, international organizations and leading civil society initiatives from across the region.

Among their key recommendations, participants called for the launch of grassroots, youth-led social media campaigns to prevent youth involvement in crime and counter the widespread “quick money” narrative promoted by criminal networks online. They also emphasized the importance of economic empowerment and financial literacy to enable young people to pursue sustainable livelihoods and positive alternatives to crime. Finally, they stressed the need for targeted and individualized approaches to youth crime prevention, addressing underlying root causes such as gender-based and domestic violence, poverty, neglect and parental absence, including in the context of migration.

“We often see how criminal networks exploit young people’s hopes and frustrations. If we don’t give youth real opportunities and positive role models, someone else will,” said Ayaulym, a Forum participant from Kazakhstan.

“Corruption takes away opportunities and public resources that should benefit young people. We need to use technology to make institutions more transparent, accountable and to strengthen a culture of integrity,” highlighted Abunasar, a participant from Tajikistan. 

The Forum was held as part of the OSCE-wide multi-year extrabudgetary project: “Enhancing youth crime and drug use prevention through education on legality and awareness campaigns addressing threats of organized crime and corruption”, and was funded by Germany. Other donors supporting this project are Andorra, Finland, Italy, Norway and Poland.