This past week, UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) initiative held its first ever hackathon (or coding challenge) in South Africa. The event - #Hack4Justice - saw some 34 secondary school students between the ages of 13 and 18 gather in Johannesburg, South Africa to battle it out at the keyboard and show off their ideas and talent in developing educational games focussing on justice and rule of law issues. The hackathon feeds into the development of a series of interactive tools to help students learn about these issues as part of the organization's Doha Declaration Global Programme.
This month the Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration entered its next phase following receipt of the second instalment of funding from the State of Qatar. The funds - $13.3 million - are part of a four-year, $49.1 million contribution to UNODC's Global Programme which was launched following the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Qatar in 2015. Since the inception of the Global Programme, there have been a number of considerable results. Some 2,000 stakeholders from across more than 110 countries have benefitted from international and regional capacity building activities, including conferences, workshops and trainings.
In a bid to better gauge how to best integrate anti-corruption education into universities in the Asia-Pacific region, professors and researchers from some 15 countries from across the area recently gathered in Singapore for an Expert Group Meeting of the Anti-Corruption Academic Initiative (ACAD). The workshop - which tied in with the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative - was organized by UNODC and the National University of Singapore to provide a platform for academics from the region to share their experiences and good practices in introducing anti-corruption education at universities in their respective countries.
Each year on 18 July, South Africans and people living across the world are encouraged to do 67 minutes of good in celebration of the life and principles of Nelson Mandela: 18 July, marking the birthday of the late icon, and 67 minutes to represent 67 years of his life spent in public service. This year, UNODC's Regional Office for Southern Africa partnered with a number of organizations working with children and youth, under the 'Gugulethu United for Youth' coalition to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day and promote sports and play as tools for social good and peaceful communities. Bringing together young people and communities, this fun-day event was based on the principles of fair play, peace, unity, service, respect and tolerance.
Since 2010, the United Nations has celebrated today as Nelson Mandela International Day to recognize the birthday of South Africa's former President and his outstanding contribution to a culture of peace and freedom. For UNODC, Nelson Mandela International Day is also a time to draw attention to the more than 10 million prisoners worldwide as well as to the work of those entrusted with their safe, secure and humane custody.
With the memory of Nelson Mandela in mind, who himself had to spend 27 years of his life in prison, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in December 2015 as 'the Nelson Mandela Rules'.
