A National Forum on “Youth Councils and Public Safety Dialogue” was held on September 14 and 15 2018 at Burana Hotel, not far from the city of Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. The forum was organized within the framework of “DREAM” project (Democracy and Religion: dialogue between equal and moderate voices), which is carried out by the Representative Office of DVV International in Kyrgyzstan in partnership with "Youth of Osh" (Osh) and the "Institute for Youth Development"(Bishkek), two local youth organizations, as well as the German non-governmental organization “Crisis Simulation for Peace” (CRISP).
The forum presented outputs of the project’s activities and implemented initiatives of the Youth Councils at community prevention centers (CPC) in 14 locations, discussed issues related to enhancing capacity of Youth Councils and CPCs, ensuring their sustainability, including the familiarization with best practices in this area, effective models of their activities and success stories.
The forum was attended by members of the Youth Councils of CPCs, heads of CPCs and local governments, experts, representatives of civil society, and international organizations. The speakers were the representative of the Secretariat of the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic, Ryspek Abdysatarov; Head of the Analytical Department of the State Commission for Religious Affairs under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Gulnaz Isayeva; Head of the Division for Countering Extremism and Illegal Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyz Republic, Erlan Bakiyev; Head of the public security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyz Republic, Ulan Rysbekov; Head of the Southern Region of the State Commission for Religious Affairs under the President of Kyrgyz Republic, Ysakbay Murzabekov.
During the forum, members of the Youth Councils highlighted the results of their local initiatives, which were implemented in 14 cities and villages of Kyrgyzstan with grant support from the Project and were aimed at holding a dialogue on public safety, building unity among community members, intercultural interaction, organizing joint events and trainings, and informational meetings. A small grant scheme was also used to strengthen capacity and support of the activities of CPCs.
The forum participants heard presentations and took part in discussion on such topics as: “Prevention of extremist views among youth: problems, achievements, innovative approaches and solutions”; “Success of CPC functioning and their interaction with local authorities, local self-government bodies and local government bodies: factors, successful practices, exchange of experience"; “Analysis of the activities of CPCs in Kyrgyzstan and ways to improve the efficiency of their activities.”
In his speech, Ryspek Abdysatarov, a representative of the Secretariat of the Security Council of Kyrgyz Republic, thanked Youth Councils and CPCs for their work and noted the importance of preventing radicalization among the youth. Ulan Rysbekov, Head of the public safety department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, was very impressed with the initiatives of Youth Councils and announced at the forum that he was initiating the awarding of the best Youth Councils on a year-to-year basis and noted that so far only the Women's Councils and Courts of the Elders of CPCs were awarded in such a way. commong for.
The forum has reached its goal. The chosen format helped to create a platform for information, communication and discussion with participation of young people and an expert group on various issues relating to Youth Councils and public safety dialogue. Favourable conditions were created for effective work of the forum, which facilitated the cooperation among the participants.
The participants received answers to many of their questions and were able to get acquainted with the leaders of the organizations that work on preventing radicalization and extremism at the national level, to get an impression of the competence and high professionalism of these specialists. Representatives of state structures at the national level made recommendations regarding future activities and increasing the capacity of Youth Councils and CPCs.
Representatives of Youth Councils expressed their desire to continue to participate in the public life of their communities as leaders and to mobilize other young people to be active. Following the forum, youth councils of the CPCs established the Coalition of Youth Councils to continue to ensure security in their communities.