Bolivian high school students battle it out at the keyboard to promote justice and the rule of law

Following on from UNODC's successful hackathon (or coding challenge) in South Africa in July, a second #Hack4Justice event was held in Bolivia in early-September. Organized in partnership with the Higher University of San Andrés, some 36 secondary school students showed off their ideas and compete to develop educational games focussing on justice and rule of law issues.

An all-girls team, Cultura Marraqueta, took first place with their idea for a game called 'Utopia'. In this, players move within a fictitious world where different villages are dominated by monsters who represent specific crime types. The objective is for players to navigate around these villages and complete challenges which help the monsters assume human forms and abandon criminal activities.

International experts gather to develop new judicial ethics training under the Doha Declaration Global Programme

As part of UNODC's anti-corruption work within the judiciary, this week kicked off with an Expert Group Meeting in Vienna focussing on the development of judicial ethics training. Key experts, including judges, academics and legal professionals from over 20 countries were present, offering extensive inputs and insights into this crucial issue. The meeting proved essential in hearing the views and recommendations of these globally recognized experts on how to develop training tools in particular for newly appointed members of the judiciary. Most importantly, the two days provided a discussion forum to ensure that the products which will be developed take into account the views of judiciaries as the ultimate recipients of the training to meet the specific needs of those within the area.

Helping judiciaries in their role as the guardian of the rule of law

In the run up to the launch of the Global Judicial Integrity Network in 2018, UNODC this week held its preparatory meeting for Europe, bringing together a diverse group of justice officials and associations from over 20 countries from across the region. 

Following similar activities held in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean in 2016, and ahead of meetings for Africa planned for later this year, the two-day discussion offered a forum to exchange good practices and challenges in judicial integrity, as well as expectations of the Network once it goes live.