The Dullah Omar Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a statement in response to the activity report of the Special rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa. We make this statement together with the Global Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status (the Global Campaign), of which we are a founding member.

The Dullah Omar Institute and the Global Campaign are increasingly concerned about the extent to which the challenges related to the criminalisation of minor or petty offences manifests at the sub-national level in law development and enforcement. In our view, this aspect of the challenge has been overlooked and requires urgent consideration by the African Commission and its stakeholders.