Youth Consultations Preceding the 11th Session of COP UNTOC

Youth Consultation Preceding the 11th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (COP11) | Date: Thursday 13th October 2022

Apply here: Call for Applications and Nominations: UNODC Youth Consultation

Deadline: 18 September 2022

Synopsis

The growing emphasis on youth at the United Nations reflects both young people’s particular vulnerabilities to crime as well as the recognition that their contribution is required to effectively respond to current challenges. To support this wider effort, a hybrid Youth Consultation is proposed to take place on 13 October 2022 prior to the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (COP-UNTOC, 17-21 October 2022) with the aim to engage with young people in a conversation on their engagement in the work of UNODC. The Consultation will involve youth with concrete, locally based experience in area of crime.

The consultation will consist of two parts: firstly, how youth and youth-led organizations can be more involved and better contribute to UNODC’s mandates on crime; and second, explore how youth and youth-led organizations can be more involved and better contribute to the organized crime work of UNODC. The outcome of the consultation will be presented at a side event on the margins of COP11.

Background

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development envisions bringing benefits to all people, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized. Member States are encouraged to provide safety and security to all and to devote special attention to youth^[^1] as they are particularly vulnerable to drug use, violence, crime, including gang-related crime, and victimization, recruitment and exploitation by criminal groups.

To address the trends of a rising youth population, and the unique ways that youths are impacted by a changing world, the Secretary-General has continued to promote young people with the launch of a UN system-wide strategy on youth, “Youth 2030: The UN Youth Strategy”, alongside the establishment Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY) in 2018. The Secretary-General’s Report, “Our Common Agenda” further emphasizes the need to work with future generations and young people to ensure a peaceful future. Additionally, the UN General Assembly, in its resolution 74/121^[2], also recognizes the contributions of young people to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The “Kyoto Declaration” adopted at the 14^th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 76/181 encourages Member States to empower youth to become active agents of positive change in their communities to support crime prevention efforts, including by organizing social, educational, cultural, recreational, sports-related youth programmes and youth forums, as well as by using social media platforms and applications and other digital tools to amplify their voice.

UNODC is engaged in efforts to support the meaningful participation of youth on several fronts, such as the Stakeholder Engagement for UNTOC (SE4U) project, the Youth Empowerment Accelerator (YEA!) Framework, the Youth Initiative on drug use prevention (including the Youth Forum), Crime Prevention through Sport Initiative, the Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment (GRACE) Initiative, and University Teaching Modules hosted on SHERLOC knowledge management portal. In addition, the Office promotes the involvement of youth representatives in its technical assistance programmes, including the design of local crime prevention strategies. More information on UNODC’s work on empowering youth can be found here.

Mandates

In its resolution of July 2016 on mainstreaming holistic approaches in youth crime prevention (ECOSOC Resolution 2016/18), the Economic and Social Council emphasized the importance of a multisectoral approach to the prevention of youth crimes and the development of prevention policies that meet the varying needs of young persons and safeguard their well-being. Central to such efforts is cooperation and coordination of efforts at all levels of government and relevant stakeholders within civil society to strengthen and sustain effective crime prevention strategies, programmes and initiatives. Additionally, the ECOSOC in 2022 adopted a decision^[3] inviting all its functional commissions, including the CCPCJ, to increase youth engagement in their work.

Through Resolution 9/1 which established the Review Mechanism of UNTOC, UNODC is implementing the Stakeholder Engagement for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, its Review Mechanism and Related Activities project (SE4U). Over 900 non-governmental stakeholders from around the world have been trained, including youth-led and youth-focused organizations. One of the project’s pillars is the SE4U Focal Point group which includes youth representatives.

In February 2021, UNODC launched its new Strategy for 2021-2025, which has three cross-cutting commitments that should be embedded into all UNODC’s programming. One of these commitments is the empowerment of youth. Integrated into all five thematic areas, the meaningful engagement of youth is vital for the success of the Office and its initiatives.

Objectives of Youth Consultation

To further facilitate and inform meaningful youth engagement in the overall work of UNODC, the Youth Consultation will be organized on Thursday 13^th October, preceding the 11^th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (COP-UNTOC), 17-21 October 2022. The outcome of the consultation will be presented at a side event at COP11. The Consultation will engage youth with community-based experience in area of crime, particularly addressing criminal threats to youth from organized crime (see selection criteria below).

The Consultation will also inform the development of “UNODC Youth” which will encompass and streamline all UNODC initiatives on youth, and the launch of its implementation framework – the Youth Empowerment Accelerator (YEA!) Framework – an umbrella framework for mainstreaming meaningful engagement of youth across all UNODC mandate areas. The Consultation will further inform the preparation for a Youth Forum on crime in the margins of the 32^nd session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (May 2023, TBC) and the 12^th session of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC (October 2024, TBC), as well as subsequent crime-related intergovernmental meetings.

Building on the momentum created by the Kyoto Declaration, the SE4U project, the YEA! Framework and other youth-related work within UNODC, the Youth Consultation will provide a timely opportunity for UNODC, Member States and young people to engage in an exchange of views about opportunities in engaging young people meaningfully, including in crime prevention and criminal justice policies and practices as they relate to organized crime.

Prior to the Youth Consultation (e.g., latest one month in advance), Focus Group meeting between UNODC and targeted youth groups will be held in preparation for the Consultation. Firstly, there will be a preparatory meeting only between UNODC colleagues to agree the modalities of the Youth Consultation and establishing commitments from and roles of respective teams for the Consultation. A separate Focus Group meeting will follow with a select number of youth representatives (between 5 and 10) to narrow the topics of discussion at the Consultation as well as agreeing their roles. Those youth representatives will be chosen based on past engagement and expertise on organized crime. The main questions to answer at the focus group are:

What are the questions, and therefore aims, that we want to answer in the Youth Consultation?

What are the themes we will focus on in the Youth Consultation?

Format of the Youth Consultation

The Youth Consultation will take place in hybrid format allowing in-person and virtual participation. The agenda will include presentations and small working groups.

The Consultation will be organized along the following two tracks:

1. UNODC-youth wide engagement: Exploring opportunities through which UNODC and youth can effectively engage with one another | 10:00-13:00 hours

In order to better understand how UNODC and youth can engage together, there is a need for an open exchange to explore potential entry points for youth engagement across UNODC mandate areas. This track will involve UNODC offices working on youth related topics to engage youth in an exchange of information through presentations and discussions. That information exchange will build the knowledge of the youth participants to familiarise with avenues for engagement. On the other hand, UNODC shall benefit from the views and ideas of the participants and the role they can play, with the view to incorporating the relevant suggestions in the organizations’ work.

This segment will aim to answer the following questions:

What are the initiatives that involve or are relevant to youth within UNODC?

How can UNODC better engage with youth and youth-led/youth-focused organizations in these initiatives (including potential mechanisms for engagement)?

What would be the main priorities for discussion during the planned Youth Forum related to the discussed topics.

2. Youth engagement in preventing and countering organized crime | 14:30-17:30 hours

This track will focus on how youth can engage in UNODC work related to transnational organized crime. The topics for the discussion in track will focus on:

Trafficking in persons
Smuggling of Migrants
Illicit trafficking in firearms
Other serious crimes as defined by UNTOC

Following presentations from UNODC on the above topics, youth participants will share their views, experience and ideas in small working groups. The discussion in this track will aim to answer the following questions:

What are the experiences of youth and youth-led organizations on UNTOC-related topics?

What are the ways in which youth and youth-led organizations in preventing and countering transnational organized crime can work with UNODC? This can inform a Call to Action for youth on organized crime, so participants leave with clarity on how to engage.

What would be the main priorities for discussion during the planned Youth Forum related to crime prevention and transnational organized crime.

Note: This Consultation will be conducted in English only without interpretation.

Participation in the Youth Consultation

The Consultation will involve approximately 20 young people from around the world, cognizant of geographical and gender diversity. Priority will be given to young people with concrete, locally based engagement/experience and knowledge on UNODC topics related to crime.

Applicants for the Consultation would include but not limited to:

Individual youth with engagement and knowledge about topics related to UNODC mandates
Youth-led organizations and other non-profit organizations with youth-focused activities
Educational institutions, schools and universities

Member States may suggest individuals or organizations to be invited.

Criteria for selection

The selection of participants will be based on the following criteria:

Between 15-35 years of age at the time of Youth Consultation on 13 October 2022;
Representatives will be from CSOs, academia or in an individual capacity. CSOs are defined as not-for-profit organizations including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), community groups, trade unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations and foundations. For profit companies are not included in this category;
Only one representative per organization can apply;
Priority will be given to representatives with experience in addressing crime issues, with an emphasis at the community level, analyzing crime trends, responding to criminal threats to youth, working on crime prevention, conducting advocacy, as well as the organization/individual's potential to make useful contributions to the consultation follow-up activities;
Other factors such as geographical balance, diverse ideological and professional backgrounds; gender, ethnic and social diversity, including disability inclusion, will also be considered in the final selection of participants.

[1] Although there are many age ranges and definitions for youth, for this consultation, youth are defined as persons between the ages of 15 and 29.

[2] Additionally, the General Assembly resolution 74/170 “Integrating sport into youth crime prevention and criminal justice strategies”

[3] Number yet to be assigned

United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime