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 it’s campaign partner, the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) to the Commission, with a call to:

• continue its work to promote the implementation of the Principles on the Decriminalisation of Petty Offences, with a particular focus on encouraging State Parties to implement the Principles to not only support reform to policing and justice sector processes, but to address the root causes of poverty and other marginalisation.
• remind States of Principle 14.3, which encourages the adoption by States of measures that aim to address the conditions that cause, exacerbate or perpetuate poverty, rather than criminalise poverty, in accordance with the obligation to respect, protect and promote economic and social rights, and the right to development, as guaranteed by the African Charter.
• remind States about the “Principles and guidelines on the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.” In particular, States should be encouraged to remember and recognise that all human rights are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated and cannot be enjoyed in isolation from each other.