Cooperation on young criminals
Norway and Russia are going to cooperate in a new project on rehabilitation of young criminals.
According to Leader for the Barents Council’s Program for Children and Youth at Risk, Pål Kristian Bergstrøm, rate of recidivism amongst young criminals in Russia is high, and Russian authorities intend to do something about the problem.
- In Norway we try to give underage criminals better and more professional help by connecting child welfare authorities and prison authorities. This is something the Russian side also wants to apply, Bergstøm says to the Norwegian magazine Fontene.
Russia has a tradition for prioritizing large institutions for children, but is now turning away from this system. The time is favorable for starting up an international cooperation on political, professional and organizational levels, Bergstrøm states.
In October 2008, Norwegian state secretaries from the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Children and Equality went to Murmansk to sign an agreement on co-operation with their Russian counterparts. Next step is a conference in Tromsø in April 2009 where the frames for the project will be discussed.
The Barents Council’s Program for Children and Youth at Risk was started in March 2008, after several years of cooperation between child welfare organizations on both sides of the border. Besides Norway and Russia, Sweden and Finland are also involved in the program.
