Campaign.

Entity

United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Vienna, Austria

Project

#Act4RuleofLaw
Global Campaign
2019 – 2021

Tasks

Strategy & Branding
Digital Media Production
Events & Public Engagement

Team

Joanna Li Mengting
Anuja Rajput / Minahil Khan /
Yasmine Oubahi / Chuan Pan

In 2019, I conceptualized a global campaign for the rule of law as a legacy initiative to continue the commitment of Doha Declaration on promoting the rule of law beyond 2021.

Brief & idea.

The rule of law is fundamental to international peace and security, to economic and social development, and to international human rights. As a normative agency, UNODC for who I was working then is the custodian of United Nations norms and standards at the core of the rule of law, including those produced by the UN Crime Congresses and Commissions on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The Office is therefore well positioned and mandated, particularly by the Crime Congress, to promote the rule of law.

Strategy.

The campaign was designed to serve as a pioneering force to mainstream rule of law issues into the wider UN agenda and to raise public awareness and engage all stakeholders on the topic. I proposed an approach that focuses on constituency-building by creating a community of rule of law supporters across all sectors, with an angle to highlight the importance of the rule of law to the three UN thematic pillars – peace, human rights, and development. The campaign also aimed to present an opportunity to enhance UNODC’s brand identity and visibility among peer organizations by filling a thematic gap in the UN’s public information initiatives at the time, while positioning the Executive Director of UNODC a principal champion on rule of law issues and a key voice to the public for UN efforts in this field.

Development.

With this in mind, I drafted a concept note, a campaign brief and a communications strategy. I worked with two designers, an IT company and four UNVs remotely across different time zones during the pandemic to develop a brand identity, a visual system, a Drupal website, and digital media content that was distributed across social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram and UNODC YouTube channel. (See media pack here)

Implementation.

As the pilot phase took place during the COVID, most public engagement activities were conducted virtually. I rolled out a series of online events and social media campaigns bringing together students, activists, and UN officials for discussions on various rule of law topics.

Virtual Events

Just Girls

Online Event for the International Day of the Girl 11 Oct 2020 | Event Info | Media Pack

Each year, 11 October marks the International Day of the Girl. In 2020, coincided with the decease of American Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that year, the campaign organized an online event joined by Politics4Her, Education4Her and young leaders of Women Deliver, to amplify the voices of girls, not only for them to stand up for their rights to safety and education, but also to encourage their active engagement in shaping equal justice for all.

Recover with Justice

Online Event for the International Human Rights Day 10 Dec 2020 | Event Info | Media Pack

The theme of the Human Rights Day in 2020 related to the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on the need to recover better by ensuring human rights are central to all recovery efforts. On 10 December, under the general umbrella of the UN’s #StandUp4HumanRights and #RecoverBetter message, the campaign brought together a panel to reaffirm the importance of justice and the rule of law in re-building a world that protects the human rights of all.

Social Media Campaigns

#NoHomeToViolence

Social Media Pack | Twitter Moments | Video Submissions

25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. In 2020, #Act4RuleofLaw participated in UNWomen’s global campaign of #16Days of activism to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen, with a particular UNODC rule of law angle, to raise awareness about domestic violence. As a UNODC study that year showed a significant increase in domestic violence during pandemic lock down measures, the timeliness and relevance of our messages were recognized with the general public.

I designed the hashtag #NoHomeToViolence and used it as our slogan, together with its visual identity and colour system and accompanying social media messages – inlcuding personal messages from UNSG and the first woman executive director of UNODC, which I shared with UNWomen colleagues in a social media pack and disseminated on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

In addition, to develop our follower community and increase public engagement, I also did the outreach to civil society partners to invite them to join the campaign with their own video messages on social media. Our messages were shared and retweeted by UNWomen and other UN offices, as well as by our followers. At the end of the 16 Days, we compiled all the video messages we had received from both women and men participants across the globe in different languages.

With #NoHomeToViolence, I tried to test the potential of a segmented niche while tapping into a larger global campaign, with the goals to 1) strengthen our collaboration with other organizations by supporting their campaigns with our own organic content; 2) increase the visibility of our office as a brand, and our relevance to global and local trends; and 3) raise the awareness of timely issues and engage the general public to participate, in order to build the constituency and create a community that supports our cause and work.

#BangkokRules10

Social Media Pack | Twitter Moments

21 December 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the Bangkok Rules – the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders. As part of the campaign’s social media promotion, I created a series of graphics and animations that introduced some of the articles in Bangkok Rules to make its concept more approachable to the public.

Brochure.

In addition, I designed an all-in-one and the go-to brochure that introduces the campaign brand and the rule of law messages for public distribution on all occasions. It is available both digitally and print.

Act4RuleofLaw Booklet from JoannaLiMengting

Testimonial.

Creativity, commitment, and professionalism are qualities you will find in Mengting, who was not only my supervisor but also my mentor. She is always willing to empower me and other young women, and to support my career within the UN. Working with her was a fruitful learning journey, as she possesses many great skills that I learned from her, including social media management, creation of visual assets, leading campaigns, and organizing online webinars, among others. She is very friendly and a positive team player.

Yasmine Oubahi

UN Women