The issue of violence in stadiums and youth delinquency is not an issue that concerns only one Ministry, said the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Anna Koukkidis-Prokopiou, adding that the approach must be holistic and all the agencies that can help resolve this huge issue.
In her statements to the KYPE and asked about the meeting she had with the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth on issues of violence and delinquency, the Minister of Justice said that the meeting with the Minister of Education was preceded by a meeting with the Minister of Health regarding the issue of addictions mainly and another meeting that followed with the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare.
“And the reason we have completed this round of meetings is precisely because the issue of violence in stadiums and youth delinquency is not an issue that concerns only one Ministry. It is a social phenomenon. The approach must be holistic and productively engage all actors who can help resolve this huge issue,” he added.
As the Minister of Justice said, “I am glad that all the Ministers are willing to help in this effort, which is certainly not limited to violence outside the stadiums, but we see violence as a phenomenon appearing everywhere in our lives and it is a problem that concerns the whole of society, whether we’re talking about arson in schools or we’re talking about a steep increase in addictions or we’re talking about issues that concern teenagers and children in a more general context.”
When asked if they have recommended any actions to deal with the phenomenon, the Minister of Justice said that they recommended the creation of a framework, a platform from which a more general monitoring of issues related to delinquency can be done, but it is still too early to be able to are more specific.
“All these issues that were raised in the meetings that were held, we must all look at them together with the officials, with the technocrats, at a more detailed level and only when each Ministry studies the actions that have been set as necessary to solve this problem , only then can we all sit together around a table and come up with very specific programs,” he noted.
Asked if they were concerned about arsons in school units, the Minister of Justice said that arsons in schools concern the Police and duly concern the Ministry of Justice which has the supervision of the Police “and with which we cooperate very closely of course”.
“Whatever help is requested from the Ministry of Education, we are willing to respond, but it is certainly also a philosophical question at the end of the day and this has been raised by the Minister of Education herself and in other discussions that I have heard and with us personally, it is an issue that must be thought about by the Ministry of Education itself, if in the end we will end up with schools-prisons rather than schools that are gathering places for teenagers and children, places that will be filled daily with joy and not with policing and strict surveillance” , he added.
But, concluded the Minister of Justice, “the facts show that there are needs for increased security measures and when and if we are asked we will respond to these requests”.
Source: KYPE
