In mid-March, Ecuador's Council for Public Participation and Social Control ( Consejo de Participación Ciudadana y Control Social - CPCCS), in collaboration with UNODC, organized a series of anti-corruption capacity-building events in Quito. These included two academic seminars for professors and students as well as a seminar for private sector actors. During all three, UNODC presented the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative, emphasizing the forthcoming integrity and ethics university modules. The presentation was designed to introduce E4J and particularly its focus on integrity and ethics education, to encourage the formation of networks of integrity and ethics academics, and to highlight tools and materials that are available to ethics educators. All three seminar presentations were followed by an open discussion.
In using education to promote a culture of lawfulness, UNODC's 'Education for Justice' (E4J) initiative held its latest Expert Group Meeting from 7-8 March. Focussing on tertiary education - and following the hosting of primary and secondary-level educators and experts in February - the meeting brought together over 80 key academics from around the globe to draw on their expertise in teaching on crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law.
The meeting - held at the UN's offices in Vienna - generated a set of practical recommendations to support stronger teaching in the fields of corruption, organized crime, trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, terrorism, cybercrime, crime prevention and criminal justice and firearms trafficking, as well as on integrity and ethics.
The integration of crime prevention and criminal justice into all levels of education is essential in building long-term approaches to countering crime and violence. It is also critical in ensuring that the rule of law is respected from an early age in order to build safe and prosperous societies for all. Recognizing this, the Doha Declaration, highlights the fundamental importance of universal education for children and youth to prevent crime, terrorism and corruption and promote sustainable development.
Within this area, E4J is holding a series of Expert Group Meetings in Vienna, bringing together experts with a variety of backgrounds from across Governments, civil society, academia, the private sector and international organizations.
Opinion Editorial by Executive Director Yury Fedotov
Each year, on 9 December, the world marks International Anti-Corruption Day. We treat this not only as a means to raise awareness, but also as an opportunity to showcase innovative ways that people and organizations can work together to counter this scourge.
Corruption affects each and every one of us: our healthcare suffers when funds for medical equipment are stolen; our education systems are hit when school budgets are illegally siphoned off; and our political institutions are undermined when bribes are paid and kickbacks sought.
Ensuring that anti-corruption ideals are built directly into education is one of the surest ways to tackle this crime and build societies where respect for the rule of law is firmly embedded. Around this, and drawing from UNODC's extensive anti-corruption work, the Office kicked off a two-day workshop today in Tunisia, held jointly with the Doha-based Rule Of Law and Anti-corruption Center.
With the aim of supporting the development of stronger teaching capacity in the field of anti-corruption studies, the workshop brings together a diverse range of academics from the Middle East and North Africa region, across the fields of law, governance, political science and business studies. To support this aim, the workshop will also be looking at the possible establishment of a 'Network of Anti-Corruption Academics' for the region.
