Brazil, the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have set up two new committees in Brasília to oversee a three-year project aimed at preventing the recruitment and exploitation of children and adolescents by armed and criminal groups.
The Steering and Technical Committees for the “Protecting Futures” project met for the first time on Tuesday and agreed strategic priorities for the first year of work, the Delegation of the European Union to Brazil informed on Thursday.
A national research study on the trajectories of adolescents in Brazil’s socio-educational system — a framework of measures for young people who have committed offences — is included in the first-year roadmap, alongside a review of legal frameworks and public policies.
Planned actions also include multi-sector training workshops for professionals working across social services, education, justice and public security, as well as community-based prevention initiatives.
The announcement comes after 2,079 children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 were victims of intentional violent deaths in Brazil in 2025, figures from the Brazilian Forum on Public Security show.
Evidence suggests criminal groups have increasingly recruited children and adolescents through online environments, including encrypted communications and digital platforms, the EU Delegation to Brazil said.
Who will be involved
Representatives from justice, public security and child protection institutions will take part in the work alongside civil society organisations, research centres, UN agencies and the Adolescent Participation Committee of Brazil’s National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Conanda).
UNODC has supported more than 60 member states in preventing and combating violence against children since it launched its Global Programme to End Violence against Children, the EU Delegation to Brazil added.
