DUSHANBE, March 17, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan has seen increase in juvenile crime over the first two months of this year, Shirinbek Mirzoyev, an official with the Ministry of Interior (MoI), remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on March 17.

The news conference was dedicated to presentation of National and Alternative Reports on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Tajikistan.

According to Mirzoyev, 111 crimes committed by youth have been registered in Tajikistan in January-February this year, which is 61 cases more than in the same period last year.  He noted that they had developed a plan of measures to prevent juvenile crime in the country.

In the meantime, Tojiddin Jalolov, head of the public association, Center for Child’s Rights, told reporters that 60 teenagers aged 14 to 18 are currently serving their sentences in the country’s only juvenile penal colony.