40 young people, participants in the "Hackjustice: An Access to Justice Hackathon", will develop innovative IT solutions to improve access to justice, especially for men and women from vulnerable and marginalized groups. The competition is organized by INVENTO, within the project "Strengthening efficiency and access to justice in Moldova", implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Moldova, with the financial support of Sweden.

In the first stage of the Hackathon, the Ideathon, which took place during 12 – 13 June, lawyers and experts in the field of law, software developers, representatives of state institutions, civil society and academia, etc. discussed the existing barriers to access to justice.

The analysed challenges included: the struggle of defending property rights, the complexity of legal language, the lack of an integrated mechanism for assessing the risks of corruption in legislation, as well as the communication between the representatives of the justice sector and the media, etc.

On the second day of the ideathon, participants worked in teams to identify tools and mechanisms to overcome the current barriers to justice and created the concept of IT solutions to help facilitate access to justice.

Anna Lyberg, the Ambassador of Sweden to Moldova, mentioned: "It is not easy to connect people from various sectors, such as justice and IT, but I believe that all the challenges we have in our modern societies, the needs and expectations of people are to always be connected to each other. These needs make us creative and innovative, as well as creating spaces for discussions, for knowledge exchange, experience and in-depth analysis, so I am sure that the next two weekends will inspire you all to think outside the box and find simple solutions, but also smart in order to increase access to justice for the people of the Republic of Moldova”.

Dima Al-Khatib, Resident Representative, UNDP Moldova highlighted: "Justice is at the heart of the 2030 Sustainable Development with a dedicated Goal the SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions and a specific target to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. Paired with strong institutions, justice is seen as a precondition for peace and therefore for sustainable development.”

Among the solutions initially conceptualized in the ideathon phase of the "Hackjustice: An Access to Justice Hackathon", may be noted:

1. Platform for access to justice for people with visual impairments;
2. Mobile application working as a court hearing organizer, consisting of a specialized calendar with secure communication channel;
3. Interactive platform for e-legal education for persons who are in detention.

In the second stage of the competition, which will take place during 26-27 June 2021, the teams will develop and present the prototypes of the identified solutions to improve access to justice. Guided by IT specialists and justice specialists, the participants will work in teams.

On 27 June, participants will present their products, and an independent jury will select the best ones. Three winning teams will get prizes in the form of a certificate for purchasing technical equipment: 1st place – US$2000, 2nd place – $1500, 3rd place - $1000.

At the same time, the best solutions will be proposed for implementation to state institutions in the justice sector.