https://youtu.be/Pp6VG7N1xRU?feature=shared Across the world and in Africa, women make up the majority of workers in the informal economy – mostly because of limited education, high levels of unemployment, inequality and...

AdvocAid: Freetown, 7 November 2024: In a landmark judgment, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice has ruled in favour of AdvocAid in a case...

Invisible People: Why transgender individuals face higher risks of homelessness and how discrimination contributes to the growing crisis A growing number of gender nonconforming and transgender people are experiencing homelessness...

ICwS: The Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) and its partners, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Commonwealth Secretariat  launched a new Practitioner’s Guide on the decriminalisation of poverty and status at a packed...

ICwS: On 9 and 10 September 2024, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) and its partners, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), held an Asia and Caribbean regional...

ICJ-Kenya: NAIROBI, Kenya – The Africa Litigation Surgery Conference kicked off in earnest with delegates from across the continent converging in Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Under the theme, pushing back against...

Amnesty International: Responding to reports of the arrest and detention of student leaders, protest participants and members of opposition parties following the quota-reform protests, with over 9000 arrests over the...

SALC: 30 July 2024, Blantyre – Yesterday,  the Mzuzu High Court ordered that 30 days should be the reasonable time envisaged under the Immigration Act within which deportation of undocumented immigrants ought to...

Joint Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima As courts and parliaments in a number of countries are in the midst of considering...

Invisible People: San Francisco officials can begin conducting homeless sweeps again after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially withdrew a preliminary injunction against the city that had been in place...

SALC & CHREAA: Although the Constitution of Malawi provides for the protection of all children including migrant children, the continuous detention of these migrant minors has become a cause of...

SALC & CHREAA: Despite being a constitutional democracy, local authorities in Malawi continue to perpetuate the colonial legacy by criminalising poverty and inequality through the incessant administration of draconian colonial...

NHLC: In a profoundly disappointing ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court today decided that the US Constitution does not protect homeless people against cruel and unusual punishment, even when they have...

GENEVA (25 June 2024) – UN human rights experts have called on governments to scrap “cruel and counterproductive” laws that are leading to people living in homelessness and poverty being arrested, fined...

SALC: Freedom of expression, a fundamental right crucial for open dialogue, critical thinking, and societal progress, is under threat in Africa due to outdated and ambiguous legal frameworks. Citizens, journalists,...

SALC: In the last year, we have seen Parliaments in Africa enact laws that contradict court rulings in Namibia and Kenya. In Uganda, and Ghana, new laws go as far as to criminalising anyone who...

ICwS & ICJ: On 5 and 6 June 2024, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) and its partners, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), held an Africa...

ILF: Around the world, criminal justice systems disproportionately penalize people who are poor, including through fines and fees. On May 15, 2024 on the sidelines of the UN Commission on...

SALC: Over the past five years, the highest courts in Namibia and Botswana have made significant decisions in favour of minority groups’ human rights through favourable judgements and court orders....

Amnesty International: Reacting to news that Moldova’s parliament has passed amendments to the country’s Criminal Code which redefine “high treason,” Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova, said: “The...

ICJ-Kenya: Nakuru, Kenya – Since time immemorial, Kenya’s culturally rich communities proudly championed and practiced their own forms of justice that was tethered in basic mechanisms and principles of reconciliation...

Peter Dimba, chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee in Parliament, has called for a thorough revision of the Penal Code, citing its numerous inconsistencies with the current Constitution. Dimba highlighted...

SALC: Some lawmakers have lamented [Malawian] Parliament’s delays to facilitate the review of Section 184 of the Penal Code, which provides for the offence of rogue and vagabond. The development...

INN: In March 2024, the 2nd Annual Global Freedom Fellowship, organized by Incarceration Nations Network, brought together 16 formerly incarcerated fellows from 13 countries for a life-changing experience of healing,...

Two years after it was filed at the regional court, a case challenging Sierra Leone’s laws on loitering has had its first day before judges at the Community Court of...

Prison Insider: Research findings and prevention work in collaboration with the prison administration Suicide and self-harm are major concerns in prisons around the world, with rates often significantly higher among...

SALC: In the centre of Southern Africa, we find one of the region’s most stable nations – Botswana. Having dominated the top spot in Africa for the respect of civil...

Parit Chiwarak, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, and Arnon Nampa dared to call for reform of the Thai monarchy at a 2020 protest. They were arrested, charged, put on trial and are facing...

Kenya: Majority of remandees are held for minor crimes ranging from being idle, disorderly, littering, begging, urinating in public, and hawking. This is the reason Julie Wayua, [ICJ-Kenya] is advocating...

Amnesty International: Authorities across East and Southern Africa continued to impose severe restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom over the past year, said Amnesty International...

https://youtu.be/qYzx4ZGQnc8 Invisible People: In this compelling documentary, Invisible People traveled to Grants Pass, Oregon, a picturesque city of about 40,000 residents, which is now at the forefront of a significant...

Amnesty International: Two young Thai activists were today indicted on ‘groundless’ royal defamation and computer crime charges, Amnesty International has said. Niraphorn “Bie” Onnkhaow, an Amnesty International Digital Rights Champion who recently...

In April 2024, the Dullah Omar Institute submitted a written statement on behalf of the Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status in response to the activity report of the Special...

NHLC: This past Monday [April 22, 2024], the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Johnson v. Grants Pass, a case about whether communities can make it illegal for homeless persons to...

One week after International Women’s Day, a coalition of organisations and experts convened to address the rising trend of women’s criminalisation driven by poverty in a side event at the...

April 25 is Africa Pretrial Detention Day, aimed at drawing attention to the excessive use of pretrial detention and the need for urgent reform across African criminal justice systems. In...

Amnesty International: Responding to a decision by Uganda’s Constitutional Court to only revoke parts of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 (AHA), a law which prompted rising attacks against LGBTI people, Amnesty...

Advocating for a non-discriminatory approach in European policies ASF, Prison Insider, FEANTSA and European Alternatives participated in a workshop to discuss how to advocate for a non-discriminatory coherent approach to...

Malawi: The High Court sitting in Blantyre yesterday adjourned to June 6 2024 the case in which people who were begging in the city are challenging the constitutionality of Section...

SALC: After a year of postponements and delays, the High Court of Botswana has set 15 May 2024 as the date to hear the constitutional challenge of Section 59(1) of...

Invisible People: Florida state lawmakers approved a bill that prohibits camping on public property at a time when homelessness has increased by more than 8% across the state since 2022....

Amnesty International: Following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Wa Baile v Switzerland, Amnesty International Switzerland’s Legal Advisor Alicia Giraudel, said: “The court’s judgement in...

ICwS & ICJ: On 7 March 2024, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) presented its joint project on the decriminalisation of poverty and status to the 2024 Commonwealth Law Ministers...

At least 22 African countries – former colonies of the Belgians, British, Dutch, French and Portuguese – retain domestic laws that make ‘vagrancy’ illegal and equip the police with excessive...

PALU: The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the Congress of African Journalists (CAJ) in coordination with the UNESCO Liaison Office to AU and UNECA, have formally unveiled the framework...

AdvocAid: On Thursday, February 15, 2024, AdvocAid Sierra Leone engaged members of the Legislative and Human rights committees in Parliament on the decriminalisation and declassification of petty offences otherwise known as...

Amnesty International: Responding to the passing of the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024” by Ghana’s parliament on February 28, Amnesty International’s Ghana Country Director, Genevieve Partington, said:...

Amnesty International: Ethiopian authorities have used the state of emergency to silence peaceful dissent by arbitrarily detaining prominent politicians critical of the government and journalists, Amnesty International said today. On...

Mohamed Wa Baile claims to have been subjected to ethnic profiling in 2015, when he was stopped by police officers in a train station in Zurich and told to identify...

Moving building towards a just Africa On 30th November to 2nd December 2023, campaign partner, Clean Start Africa organized The Beyond the Bars Conference. The Beyond the Bars conference is...