Sports can contribute immensely to improving people's physical and psychological health. They also present the world with a universal language and a sense of belonging and support. In promoting mutual respect and tolerance, sports teaches important social and interpersonal skills. Using sports to help people, especially youth, has proven to be an effective tool in keeping them from falling into a cycle of anti-social behaviour, violence, crime and drug use.
At the recent celebrations of the National Sports Day in Doha, Qatar, Oliver Stolpe, UNODC's programme manager responsible for the implementation of the Doha Declaration Global Programme, stressed that "sports are an essential component of our modern society's goals, and it was only a matter of time UNODC leaned on them in its global mission to advance crime prevention."
In its ongoing efforts to reduce the risk of anti-social behaviour amongst its large youth population, and to help young people stay away from crime and drug use, Uganda has partnered with UNODC to use sports and physical education to that end. Preparations have started with a programming mission last week, piloting UNODC's evidence-informed life skills training "Line Up, Live Up", with the support of key Ugandan government and civil society actors.
Working in close cooperation with Uganda's Ministry of Education and Sport, other UN partners like UNESCO, and non-governmental actors, UNODC will build the capacity of sport coaches and social workers to incorporate "Line Up, Live Up" sessions in their programmes in the months to come.
UNODC and UNESCO announced a new project focussed on educating youth on a culture of lawfulness to provide educational responses to meet some of the world's most pressing rule of law challenges.
The ' Initiative on Global Citizenship Education: Educating for a Culture of Lawfulness' is developed jointly by UNODC and UNESCO with the aim of equipping primary and secondary level educators with tools to uphold the principles of human rights and democracy, as well as to preserve and strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Model UN is an academic simulation of the United Nations, where students play the role of delegates from different countries and attempt to solve real world issues, using the policies and perspectives of their assigned country. For the first time, simulations on issues such as corruption, human trafficking and cybercrime, and addressing their related Sustainable Development Goals, have become more easily accessible, with UNODC's launch of its own resource guide. The first of its kind within the United Nations family, the "Resource Guide for Organizing Model United Nations Conferences that Address Crime Prevention, Criminal Justice and Other Aspects of the Rule of Law" is accessible online available for download.
Amid the spread of globalization and increasing transnational flows, organized crime has generated significant interest in academic, policy and law enforcement circles. Yet despite their visibility and the abundance of literature on their activities and structures, organized criminal groups also constitute a contentious focus of research.
In order to address gaps, to display innovative global and critical research on organized crime, and to contribute to the crafting of legal and policy reform on crime, the Education for Justice initiative and the the European University Institute (EUI) will convene an International Academic Conference on the gender and gendered dynamics of organized crime. A call for abstracts is now open until 9 March 2018.
