Prisoner rehabilitation efforts in Zambia were given a strong boost this week with the opening of two new facilities aimed at curbing recidivism in the country and promoting social reintegration. Initiated under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration, and supported by the State of Qatar, the two centres offer a unique, inclusive approach to reducing reoffending through in-prison skills training and post-release support.
One of the foundations of good governance is the absence of corruption, and a determination to struggle against it when cracks appear in society and government. As corruption takes many forms and comes through many channels, it is necessary to fight it through a variety of measures and ways, at different stages. Increasingly, formal education at various levels is being recognized as a pro-active, essential step in the struggle against corruption around the world.
In its concerted efforts to promote a culture of lawfulness and the rule of law, the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative, a component of UNODC's Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration, has developed a series of university modules around the subject of lawfulness.
The European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ) believes that councils and judiciaries should assume a new role to achieve a better balance of power and to strengthen the position of the judiciary, which necessitates expressing and explaining the role of an independent and accountable judiciary, within a state governed by the rule of law. In addition, councils for the judiciary should be instrumental in helping educate society about what judges do, and it is therefore essential for the councils and the judiciaries to develop their communication with the general public.
The enthusiasm of hundreds of participating students was palpable at the opening ceremony of the first-ever Tashkent International Model United Nations (TIMUN) held in Uzbekistan. Co-organized last week jointly with UNODC's Education for Justice initiative (E4J) and the Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), this MUN was the first to tackle a CCPCJ (Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice) simulation, following E4J's MUN Resource Guide.
Over 150 students from all over the world joined more than 250 Uzbek students from 15 universities in the country for the event, which WIUT has been organizing regularly for the past six years, seeing its popularity increase and attendance skyrocket from a mere 35 delegates initially.
Last week, the head of UNODC's Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration, Marco Teixeira, was interviewed by MTV (one of the most prominent regional channels in Lebanon and the Arab world), on its renowned MTV Alive show. He spoke about the Global Programme's mission to promote a culture of lawfulness, through the various activities and resources of its four components. Below are some excerpts from the interview (edited for clarity).
