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fundamental right crucial for open dialogue, critical thinking, and societal progress, is under threat in Africa due to outdated and ambiguous legal frameworks.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)(Opens in new window) and the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec)(Opens in...

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,...

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...

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....

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...

The Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status welcomes the adoption of the first-ever resolution on access to justice for all by the United Nations General Assembly. This resolution supports the advancement of...

https://www.youtube.com/live/RTMuLbUU6j4?si=hXY-UpuF4rBe9ik8&t=1294 SALC: Despite significant successes by activists, the global anti-rights movement has swung the pendulum in favour of the increased use of the law and criminal justice system to criminalize...

National Homelessness Law Center: WASHINGTON, D.C. – (November 3, 2023) Today, the United Nations Human Rights Committee highlighted serious and ongoing patterns of human rights abuses — including those against people experiencing...

Amnesty International: The Supreme Court’s ruling recognizes as “extremist” an undefined “international public LGBT movement.” This phrase, used by the Russian Ministry of Justice, appears to target not an established, clearly defined...

Invisible People: The United Nations Human Rights Committee recently called on U.S. officials to abolish laws criminalizing homelessness in concluding observations from the body’s fifth periodic report on the country....

Invisible People: Another study confirmed what many housing advocates already know: Homelessness is primarily caused by a lack of affordable housing, not substance abuse. The study, which Washington State University conducted, analyzed...

Penal Reform International (PRI) and Women Beyond Walls are collaborating to map out the key areas in need of reform related to the criminalisation of women globally due to their poverty and...

ICJ-Kenya: NAIROBI,Kenya, – The distinction between petty offences and all other offences is that they are categorized as misdemeanours, now enshrined in law. Calls to decriminalize petty offences, which primarily...

SALC: Sedition laws are a serious threat to freedom of expression and democracy in Africa. These laws are often used to silence dissent and criminalize legitimate criticism of the government....

NEW YORK (27 October 2023) – The vast majority of countries that have laws and policies targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity have inherited these practices from...

Harm Reduction International: On 13 October 2023, the Human Rights Council (HRC) concluded its 54th session (11/09/2023 to 13/10/2023). This briefing highlight key debates, decisions and documents in which drug...

PRI: The International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) Annual Conference 2023 took place in Antwerp, Belgium, from 22-27 October 2023, hosted by the Belgian Prison Service. The theme of the conference...