EFDN attends UN expert group meeting on youth crime prevention
Our CEO Hubert Rovers attends an expert group meeting on the use of sport for youth crime prevention and criminal justice organised by UNODC (The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). The meeting hosted by the government of Thailand brings together around 40 experts, including government experts in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, representatives of civil society organizations working on the subject matter as well as representatives of sport organizations and relevant United Nations entities.
EFDN delivers several programmes that contribute to youth crime prevention. We organise several Youth Exchanges each year that bring young people from different backgrounds and different countries together. EFDN and its member clubs have set up Community Champions Leagues, street football competitions in deprived neighbourhoods across Europe. Furthermore, EFDN hosts prison tournaments in collaboration with an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. Together with other experts, our CEO Hubert Rovers examines effective ways of integrating sport into youth crime prevention and criminal justice programmes and shares best practices.
Generating information and developing policy recommendations
The Expert Group Meeting aims to analyse and compile international good practices on the use of sports in the context of youth crime prevention and criminal justice and provide recommendations for Governments to effectively integrate sport into their crime prevention and criminal justice strategies. More specifically, the event will:
1. Generate information and raise awareness about opportunities and challenges as regards to integrating sport and sport-based learning into crime prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary prevention) and criminal justice strategies;
2. Develop policy recommendations on how sport and sport-based learning could be integrated into youth crime prevention and criminal justice strategies and programmes, in a manner that caters to various stakeholders and enhances system-wide coordination. Such recommendations will be brought to the 29th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice for consideration (May 2020, Vienna) and the 14th Crime Congress for information (April 2020, Kyoto);
3. Contribute to a community of practice on youth crime prevention and the use of sport and sport-based learning in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the United Nations Kazan Action Plan on Sport for Development and Peace.
Sport and the SDGs
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development describes sport as an important enabler of sustainable development. It recognizes the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives. We are convinced that football is a powerful tool with the potential to tackle challenges entailed in each of the 17 SDG’s. Together with its members and partners, EFDN is aiming at working towards new milestones in CSR in football.
