Internal Security: Summit on Youth Violence: Giffey Calls for “Concerted Action”

internal security
Youth violence summit: Giffey calls for “concerted action”

“Such a summit must not remain a one-off event”: Franziska Giffey. photo

© Fabian Sommer/dpa

After the “Summit against Youth Violence” there is agreement among the participants: not only consistent criminal prosecution is needed, but also better social work at the same time.

After the New Year’s Eve riots, Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey announced a “concerted action” against youth violence. The Senate wants to allow millions of dollars in additional spending on social work.

“We not only need to talk, we also need to take action,” said Giffey on Wednesday after the “summit against youth violence” to which she had invited to the Red Town Hall. “It is very clear that the events of New Year’s Eve are a turning point.”

Giffey said there was a need to address the deeper issues behind it. She named four areas that should be the focus of efforts: more intensive social work with parents’ homes, more extracurricular youth social work, new “places for young people” and consistent criminal prosecution.

Development of concepts at the next meeting

“It is very clear that such a summit must not remain a one-off event where everyone says how affected they are,” said the SPD politician. He is the beginning of a work process, a concerted action for more respect and against youth violence in Berlin.

Concepts should be worked out and the financial requirements clarified by another meeting on February 22nd. Giffey announced a Senate decision on this in March. The money for this should be mobilized from the budget. The repeat election to the House of Representatives on February 12 should not stop the process. The Senate is fully capable of acting until a new state government is formed, said Giffey.

Around 30 representatives from politics, the police, the public prosecutor’s office and the judiciary as well as from integration and social work took part in the “summit against youth violence”. “I am now quite optimistic after the appointment because I experienced an extraordinarily open round where I had the feeling that everyone was talking about the same topic,” said Elvira Berndt, managing director of the street social work association Gangway.

Some representatives from social work practice were skeptical in advance. “I remember Islam conferences and integration summits across Germany. 2,200 pages of paper were printed and we didn’t achieve our goals,” said Kazim Erdogan, chairman of the Berlin advisory board for family issues and board member of the social association Aufbruch Neukölln. In the past, decisions were often made over people’s heads. That was different this time.

André Juterzenka, Head of the Criminal Inspectorate of Directorate 5, which is responsible for juvenile crimes, said that the networking and cooperation of many important partners made a holistic concept possible.

criticism before the meeting

Even before the meeting in the town hall, however, there was clear criticism: The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which is committed to combating racism and right-wing extremism, among other things, called for long-term solutions to combat youth violence. Instead of activism and new parallel structures, the expansion of proven approaches is necessary, for example with more staff, premises and money.

From the point of view of the head of the Berlin police union (GdP), Stephan Weh, Berlin needs a permanent central contact point for youth violence, where the districts can draw on expertise, structures and experience. Weh said that to the “Rheinische Post”.

Because of the New Year’s Eve riots, 145 people with a total of 18 different nationalities were arrested in Berlin, including numerous teenagers and young adults.

dpa

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