OSCE Centre trains officials working with young offenders in Kyrgyzstan

TALAS, Kyrgyzstan, 20 May 2011– A training seminar initiated by the Education and Interior Ministries with the support of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek will start tomorrow in the city of Talas in northern Kyrgyzstan.

The course aims to improve the co-operation and activities of education departments and officials working with young offenders in addressing problems such as violence in schools. The seminar participants will be presented with a manual on school bullying that was published with support of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek earlier this year.

Representatives of the regional Youth Ministry, Juvenile Affairs Commissions members, local non-governmental organizations working with juveniles, social workers and school directors will take part in the training course. Similar seminars have already been held in Issyk-Kul, Naryn, and Chuy provinces – a session in Bishkek is also planned. At the end of the project, more than 100 participants will be trained.

Lilian Darii, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, stressed the importance of the event: “This training course will provide representatives of educational institutions and those working with young offenders the necessary skills to effectively work together. In the long run, this co-operation should help reduce the levels of antisocial behaviour in educational institutions and society.”

Murat Munduzbaev, the head of the department at the Interior Ministry which deals with young offenders, said: “We must create an atmosphere of intolerance to all forms of violence among young people. We need to move from reactive methods to systematic proactive actions which would involve all stakeholders, including the wider public.”

The event is part of the Community Policing Project run by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek as part of the Police Reform Programme.