19 December 2022, Iraq – STRIVE Juvenile Iraq held its second National Steering Team Meeting, led by the High Judicial Council (HJC), National Security Advisory (NSA) and the Juvenile Reform Department of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). Steering team members discussed the project’s achievements and validated objectives and priorities for enhancing national capacities and mechanisms in relation to the treatment of children and juveniles associated with terrorist and violent extremist groups including security and justice responses; and the provision of rehabilitation and reintegration services.
All steering team members, including representatives of the HJC, NSA and MOJ, highlighted Iraq’s national vision, priorities and strategies and reached consensus on validating the workplan for 2023, the project’s third year of implementation. Participants reconfirmed their confidence in STRIVE Juvenile to deliver effective responses to the recruitment and exploitation of children and juveniles by terrorist and violent extremist groups, focusing on four main areas of work: research; legal and policy frameworks; capacity building for professionals; and support for resilience of children and their environments.
As the most significant beneficiary of STRIVE Juvenile Iraq, the Juvenile Reform Department of the MoJ stressed the importance of the work carried out by STRIVE Juvenile to improve the rehabilitation process for juveniles who are in detention facilities known locally as ‘rehabilitation schools’. The HJC highlighted the difficult nature of the work carried out by the project with regard to legal and policy frameworks and acknowledged the partnership effort that would be required to overcome the various challenges ahead. Finally, the NSA stressed the exceptional compatibility between the project's objectives and those of the National Strategy to Combat Violent Extremism, which it saw as an essential basis for the strengthening and expanding of partnership between UNODC and the Government of Iraq.
STRIVE Juvenile is a five-year project supported by the European Union that aims to address child association with terrorist and violent extremist groups and its consequences for the lives of children and society at large.
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Newsroom
During the Special Event, the new project STRIVE Juvenile has been presented. STRIVE Juvenile: Preventing and Responding to Violence against Children by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups is a three-year (2021-2024), EUR 5.5 million initiative by the European Union and UNODC. The project aims to partner with the selected countries, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Iraq and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for the development and implementation of comprehensive national responses to prevent and counter violent extremism affecting children, in full respect of human rights, gender equality and international law... Read more
