With an infinite curiosity and a predilection for voicing honest opinions, children tend to enjoy the mental exercise of ranking their favourite things. For the past two months, they were given the opportunity to watch short movies online and to vote on their preferences in the Takorama Film Festival, designed by the association Films pour enfants to engage children around the world with stimulating subjects and appealing animations.
This unique festival has accompanied children in various situations of COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing confinement, exposing them to artistic contributions which tackle solidarity, tolerance and respect for others - subjects which form an integral part of the work of Education for Justice, an initiative of UNODC's Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration.
The UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia organized a webinar jointly with the Anti-corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on best practices for promoting ethics and integrity through education. Such educational tools on issues related to the prevention of corruption and the promotion of ethics and integrity are produced within UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) initiative.
The event gathered representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science, heads of the regional administrations of education and territorial departments of the Agency, as well as experts from the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia. The webinar focused on the discussion of best practices for promoting a culture of non-acceptance of corruption among children and youth, as well as the empowerment and activation of social participation in countering this phenomenon.
As the COVID-19 crisis may lead to an erosion of trust in public services and governments, urgent questions should also be asked about how measures to prevent its spread can adversely affect the rule of law and human rights. UNESCO and UNODC stress the importance of education which teaches awareness of human rights and ultimately helps build more equal, sustainable and inclusive societies and economies that are more resilient in the face of crisis.
According to the United Nations, school closures in over 113 countries to contain the spread of COVID-19 are disrupting the education of around 849.4 million learners globally. Such unusual circumstances have caused difficulties and limitations.
As a response to the global COVID-19 crisis, UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) initiative launched a creative campaign for Russian speaking students of all ages targeting specifically Central Asian countries. This campaign aimed to help students to overcome stress and focus on future positive perspectives in these challenging times in which social and physical distancing forces many people to stay at their homes for an extended period of time.
As part of the Doha Declaration Education for Justice initiative, UNODC and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens have announced that they will soon begin implementation of a new Women's Empowerment Programme (WEP) catering to young females from Latin America. The WEP, made possible thanks to generous support from the State of Qatar, will transform education policy into action in order to promote justice, the rule of law and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Programme will focus on training and equipping 20 young women from Latin American countries with the skill-set to act as SDG leaders within their fields of work. While all of the 17 SDGs provide the framework for the WEP, its focus will be on SDGs 4,5,16 and 17.
