Campaign partner APCOF submits a statement on behalf of the Campaign, to the EU-AU Consultation with Civil Society. The statement calls on the EU-AU dialogue to include consideration of the...
Campaign submits statement at 73rd ACHPR session
APCOF submitted the below statement on behalf of the Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status, in response to the report of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and...
Reflections on Women Prison Conditions – ACHPR
At the 73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Louise Edwards, Director of Research and Programmes at APCOF gave the following reflections on the action...
Malawian High Court outlaws sweeping arrests
Article from Malawi Nation, Wed Nov 18, 2021: Last week, the Malawian High Court declared the police’s indiscriminate sweeping exercises unlawful and in violation of various constitutional rights and international...
Malawi High Court Declares Mass Arrests (Sweeping Exercises) Unconstitutional
Blantyre, 9 November 2022 – On 8 November 2022, the High Court of Malawi issued a judgment declaring the police’s indiscriminate practice of sweeping exercises unlawful and in violation of...
South African civil society issue statement ahead of UPR
On 16 November 2022, the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group examined South Africa's human rights record for the fourth time. This review comes at an...
The crime of being poor – images of human rights violations in prisons aim to spark rethink of incarceration
Former Constitutional Court judge and current inspecting judge of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS), Edwin Cameron, was one of the speakers at the prison conditions exhibition hosted by...
Regional meeting on prison oversight mechanisms
On 27 and 28 October 2022 a large, multi-sectoral group of stakeholders from across Africa met in Johannesburg to consider urgent action to address cruel, inhuman, and degrading conditions that...
Exhibition: The Ties that Bind Us
On 27 October 2022, SALC co-hosted a photo exhibition entitled "The ties that bind us". The exhibition looked at the conditions in detention accross Africa and urged reform of criminal...
PRI issues statements against criminalistion of women to UN working group
In October 2022, PRI responded to a call for input by the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, for its upcoming report to the Human Rights Council...
Campaign issues joint statement on colonial laws at the UN Human Rights Council
On 28 September, as part of its 51st session, the UN Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on the negative impact of colonial legacies on human rights. Tríona Lenihan...
Special Report on Petty Offences covered in Nigerian media
Premium Times Nigeria run a special report entitled 'Criminalisation of petty offences in Nigeria violates the poor' which heavily features campaign engagement with both the ACHPR and the Nigerian criminal...
Stellenbosch Conference closes with coalition’s draft Joint Declaration
From 27 to 29 September 2022, representatives from over 40 organisations from over 30 countries, gathered in Stellenbosch, South Africa, for the Campaign’s Annual Convening to explore the theme: “Decriminalising...
Criminalization of Homelessness is Racially Discriminatory, Must be Abolished, Say UN Human Rights Experts
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND- The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva yesterday stated “it remains concerned at the increasing number of state and local laws that criminalize homelessness...
Children caught using cannabis will no longer be criminally prosecuted
GroundUP reports: The Constitutional Court has ratified a High Court order declaring sections of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act as unconstitutional because it criminalises the use and possession of...
Over 50 organisations to attend Annual Convening
From 27 to 29 September 2022, representatives from over 50 organisations from over 35 countries, will gather in Stellenbosch, South Africa, for the Campaign’s Annual Convening to explore the theme:...
Understanding the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s Methods of Work
The short video provides an explanation on how the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's mechanism could play an important part on the advocacy work against arbitrary detention of marginalised...
Economic right activity in check in Malawi
Due to economic challenges the country is sailing through, some people have resorted to doing business at a small-scale to earn a living. However, those that are doing business through...
City of Cape Town to return belongings to homeless after agreement in court
City of Cape Town has been ordered by the Western Cape High Court in South Africa, to return the belongings of the homeless living around the Castle in the CBD....
CAMPHK files as amicus to decriminalise suicide in Kenya
In Kenya attempted suicide as laid out by Section 226 of the Penal Code is a misdemeanor punishable by Two (2) Year’s imprisonment or a fine or both, pursuant to...
Poor traders in Jail
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zSrDMLGXHgQ Campaign partner, Crime Check TV release a video that highlights the effect of dutybearers using vagrancy and loitering laws to target poor traders in Ghana. The video is a...
“Justice for All” event kick-starts a year of action
https://youtu.be/z5RUZcGY5Bg Side event to the 31st Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Co-organised by Ghana, Mexico, South Africa, the United States, Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status,...
‘Decriminalising petty offences’ JoyNews Special
https://youtu.be/mb6EChnC7s8 ‘Decriminalizing Petty Offences’ special on JoyNews Online. Mina Mensah, Director, CHRI and Samuel Lardy Anyenini, Director of Programmes, IHRDA exchanged with the host of Joy News’ programme ‘The Law’ on how laws on...
Campaign issues statement at 71st ACHPR Ordinary Session
https://youtu.be/md1wP4qf6aI As part of the civil society engagement at the 71st Ordinary Session of the ACHPR, the campaign issued the attached collective statement, via it’s campaign partner, the African Policing Civilian Oversight...
Court case filed against Sierra Leone to overturn discriminatory loitering laws
AdvocAid has filed a case at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria, against the Government of Sierra Leone, seeking to overturn...
“Counting the cost of exclusion” seminar – Highlights
Linking criminal law, political exclusion and socio-economic inequality On 24 March 2022, the Global Campaign to Decriminalize Poverty and Status hosted a virtual seminar on Counting the Cost of...
Online petition launched to decriminalise cannabis in Kenya
Campaign partner, CAPMHK has launched an online petition calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis for personal use in Kenya. In Kenya, when one is found guilty of possession of cannabis for personal use, they...
ILF work in Nepal selected as a World Justice Challenge finalist
Campaign partner, The International Legal Foundation has been selected as a finalist for the World Justice Challenge for their work on decriminalising poverty in Nepal. Read full details on the...
Why the courts alone can’t solve homelessness
An op-ed from APCOF describes how, despite a court order, the City of Cape Town was yet to return the seized possessions after evicting homeless staying in District Six, including...
12 inmates regain freedom in innovative e-Court sittings
In response to congestion of custodial centers in Nigeria in the aftermath of the COVID 19 Pandemic, PRAWA with the support of OSIWA, piloted the use of technology in supporting...
Quarterly Digest: July to Dec 2021
Missed out on the latest updates from our partners? You can read the complete quarterly digest here: Digest - July to Dec 2021
Implications of petty offences in Uganda – A documentary
Criminal laws, particularly those providing for petty offences such as vagrancy laws, have consistently been used to arrest, detain, evict, or exploit the labour of persons who are deemed unfit...
City of Cape Town’s ‘broken windows’ policy demands more than a criminal justice response
In December 2021, campaign partner, APCOF crafted an OP-Ed in South Africa’s Daily Maverick entitled ‘City of Cape Town’s ‘broken windows’ policy demands more than a criminal justice response’, in response to...
Campaign issues statement at 69th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR
https://youtu.be/DeRntOVR8B4 As part of the civil society engagement at the 69th Ordinary Session of the African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights, the campaign issued the following collective statement, via...
‘Equal before the Law?’ – Petty offences on BBC podcast
"The vendor who changed Malawi: Mayeso Gwanda took the state to court after his arrest for an outdated and vague petty crime. While he was successful in changing the law,...
‘Poverty is not a crime’ media campaign launched in Tunisia
https://youtu.be/k2lj7PYx86s As part of their activities under the Campaign to Decriminalise Petty Offences in Africa, the Organisation against Torture in Tunisia (OCTT) has launched an media campaign to raise the...
Petty Offences Symposium Report released
Throughout the globe, petty offenses, such as loitering laws, are used to exert social control. They criminalize poverty and marginalization and police gender norms. In the United States and locally...
Regional High Level Consultation Dialogue Report
Regional High Level Consultation Dialogue Report on Implementation and Domestication of AU Standards to Decriminalize Petty Offences SADC Lawyers Association’s primary mandate is to promote good governance & the rule...
MALAWI: Law Society rejects Legal Aid Proposal
In a proposal addressed to the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament dated April 7 2021, the bureau wants limited right of audience for legal aid assistants, popularly known as paralegals,...
KENYA: New Law bans spitting, urinating in public
You risk either being slapped with a Sh10,000 fine or a six-month jail term if you are caught blowing your nose, spitting or going for a short call in public...
Justice for Poor – Fight intensifies
The battle for legal representation for the poor has intensified with the Judiciary, some lawyers and civil society organisations backing a Legal Aid Bureau proposal to allow paralegals limited access...
Report human interest stories – journalists told
Ghanaian journalists have been advised not to forget their core mandates as agenda setters to report human interests stories particularly on the vulnerable to engender developmental activities. According to celebrated...
“Decriminalising poverty in South Africa” – Webinar report
South Africa’s Constitution, reflective of regional human rights law, embodies values and principles that mandate the adoption and implementation of measures that promote a more inclusive and egalitarian society. To achieve this, the state...
Abuja High Court denounces violation of Women’s Rights by law enforcement agencies
12 August 2021, Abuja – On 5 August 2021, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division, per Justice Maha, handed down a groundbreaking decision against law enforcement agencies that violated...
Malawi High Court to Determine Constitutionality of Police Sweeping Exercises
21 June 2021, Blantyre – Today, Judge Zione Ntaba heard the case of State v Officer in Charge, Kasungu Police Station and Inspector General of Police, Ex Parte Banda and...
African Court Challenges States to rethink the Basis of their Criminal Laws
Africa.com 22 January 2021 By Anneke Meerkotter On 4 December 2020, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued an Advisory Opinion which challenges the very notions which underpin...
Africa: a Regional Campaign to Decriminalise Petty Offences
In March 2015, a street vendor named Mayeso Gwanda was arrested on his way to work in Malawi for being a ‘rogue and vagabond’. He was one of thousands of...
Prioritise non-custodial sentencing
Speakers at a roundtable discussion on sentencing in the country’s Criminal Justice System have called on judges to prioritise the option of non-custodial sentencing that exist under the 1992 Constitution...
Campaign partner APCOF recommends investigation into bylaws
To promote constitutionally compliant legislation, in the past 27 years, South Africa’s policy and legislative environment has been a subject of sustained and progressive reform. However, across all nine provinces, laws...
Scrap Vagrancy Laws – Advocates Appeal
With the increasing number of inmates in Ghana’s prisons, crime prevention organization Crime Check Foundation (CCF) has partnered with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) to advocate the...