Campaign to integrate youth in care into society

The Ministry of Social Solidarity on Tuesday launched a media campaign to integrate children and youth into society after leaving social care institutions.

The campaign is conducted in co-operation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Italian Agency for Development Co-operation.

The move is aimed to raise awareness about the discrimination faced by children and youth after leaving social care institutions. The campaign also highlights the responsibility of society towards young people to offer them decent life.

The campaign will be published on the social media platforms of the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the UNODC.

Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine el-Qabbag said the campaign highlights the need to stop discrimination that young people are facing after leaving social care institutions. “They are in fact children we meet in our daily lives,” el-Qabbag said, affirming that the whole society and concerned parties have a role in supporting and assisting them start their lives.

Ms Cristina Albertin, UNODC Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa, said that the office has been co-operating with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to provide this support since 2006 in nine institutions, and the scope of work will be expanded to more than 20 institutions until end of 2025.

“It is also at the heart of the principle of equality within the overarching objective of the 2030 Agenda: to leave no one behind and that includes children,” Albertin said.

UNODC will be able to reach around 20 social care institutions where a bigger number of children will benefit from the different services provided to ensure that each one of them has another chance to prove himself/herself and becomes a positive member of his/her society, she said.