Tunis, Tunisia, 4-5 July 2018 – Efus was invited as guest speaker at an international conference on “Protecting young people against crime” in Tunis (Tunisia), on 4-5 July, organised by the presidency of the Tunisian Republic and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), an international foundation that assists the international community to improve the governance of their security sector through inclusive and participatory reforms based on international norms and good practices. The event enabled Efus to meet high level representatives of the Tunisian authorities and discuss future cooperation.
> Promoting good practices to prevent youth crime
In Tunisia, where about 25% of the population is aged between 15 and 29, young citizens have been ever since the 2011 Arab Spring revolution important actors in the democratic transition through numerous civil society organisations.
The conference, whose aim was to promote within the Tunisian governing bodies international good practices on the prevention of youth crime, gathered some 80 high level policy makers and civil servants. After the meeting, which included several panel discussions, a position paper and recommendations were submitted to the presidency of the Tunisian Republic.
> Efus’ provided its expertise at three discussion panels
Efus was guest speaker at three discussion panels:
The first panel presented comparative experiences in local governance and crime prevention. Martin Schairer, former President of the German Forum (DEFUS) and Deputy Mayor of Stuttgart (Germany), where he is in charge of Security,Public Order and Sport, and Farid Bounouar, Project Manager at Efus, presented the Forum. They talked about methods developed to design a local strategy for the prevention of youth crime, the prerogatives and tools available to local authorities in order to do so, and a series of international good practices on community safety.
The theme of the second panel discussion was law enforcement agencies and the judicial system, with the objective of identifying good practices of law enforcement, of coordination of the various stakeholders involved – law enforcement, judicial system, social and healthcare professionals, civil society – to successfully prevent youth crime, help young people reintegrate society and prevent reoffending.
The third panel discussion tackled violent extremism and how to work with young offenders at risk of drifting towards violent extremism by involving families and building partnerships with religious authorities, schools and charities. Manuel Cameron, member of the Department of Strategic Analysis of the City of Liege (BE) represented Efus at both these panel discussions.
> Strengthening Efus’ international activities
Efus attended this conference as part of its international activities aimed at strengthening exchanges between European member local authorities and security actors from other parts the world. As such, Efus is taking part in the EUROsociAL+ programme of cooperation between Europe and Latin America on the question of gender. It also collaborates with the UNESCO’s group of inclusive cities.
