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 Status and Activism”. The meeting, hosted by Stellenbosch University (SU), provided a unique opportunity for campaign members to learn lessons...

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 groups (which often faced criminalisation). Read more here: https://lotmnetwork.org/knowledge-hub-2/

For the U.S. review by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Miami Law Human Rights Clinic, National Homelessness Law Center, and partners submitted a shadow report on racial injustice in homelessness and housing, highlighting the criminalization of homelessness. They further engaged in advocacy with the Committee in Geneva...

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 vending are sometimes entangled between the rock of poverty and the blue sea of city bylaws. THOMAS KACHERE writes in...

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. On June 1st, NGO Ndifuna Ukwazi filed a notice of motion with the Western Cape High Court to order the...

Co-founder of Relais, Youssef Madad is interviewed in TelQuel Feature on ‘Petty Offences, Major Consequences’. In his interview, entitled ‘Neighbourhoods are the right grounds for establishing a post-prison restorative policy’, Youssef proposes positioning reintegration into society at the centre of prison policy. As part of the same feature, Jamila Sayouri,...

The Guardian: Citing claims of violence and rape by police, lawyers and activists mount legal challenge to laws brought in under British rule A case has been filed against the government of Sierra Leone to overturn the country’s loitering laws, which activists and lawyers claim are discriminatory, and used by police to...

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, International Drug Policy Consortium, International Legal Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Penal Reform International, African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, Community Advice...

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 petty offences inherently target the poor and marginalised groups by their very nature. Tracing their colonial history and discriminatory nature...

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 Forum (APCOF) to the Commission. The statement, under Agenda Item 3: Human Rights Situation in Africa, calls on the commission to:...

 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 Exclusion: Linking criminal law, political exclusion and socio-economic inequality. During the event, panellists shed light on the interplay between social,...

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 face a jail term of up to ten (10) years or liable to a fine of Two Hundred and Fifty...

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 cellphones, mattresses, and identification documents. The article on ‘Why the courts alone can’t solve homelessness’ shows how Cape Town’s use...

Missed out on the latest updates from our partners? You can read the complete quarterly digest here: Digest - July to Dec 2021

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 to occupy public spaces. The continued enforcement of these laws often shows no regard for the individual right to dignity, fair...

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 the City of Cape Town’s highly controversial “deliberate decision to fine the homeless”. The article makes explicit the urgency required...

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 it's campaign partner, the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) to the Commission, with a call to: continue its work...

"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, the African Union is calling for more to be done. Enforcing these sorts of minor offences leads to lifelong consequences...

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 awareness of the public and the policymakers about the necessity to stop criminalizing the minor offences that target poor and...

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 in Miami, the use of petty offenses to criminalize poverty is also a critical issue where people experiencing homelessness regularly...

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 of law in the SADC region. There has been prevalent existence and application of petty offenses in the region &...

CPAP: The narrative of a criminal woman finds its bearings within the caste system in India. During British colonial rule, the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 classified several tribes as hereditary, habitual criminals who by nature were predisposed to committing petty offences. Their alleged likelihood to commit crime at any moment...

Lawyers Alert & SALC: 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 women’s rights. The Applicants were among 71 women who were arrested at various public spaces in Abuja between 17 and...

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 our class-based societies. The African Court stated that there is no reasonable basis for a law which distinguishes between so-called...

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 still exist that criminalise the status of individuals, and penalise the performance of life-sustaining activities in the public places, effectively...

Recently, the Organization Against Torture in Tunisia organised an experts seminar, as part of this campaign's activities. The seminar was held in a hotel in Hammamet on March 20 and 21, 2021. The general objective of this conference was to raise awareness among Tunisia's civil society and judicial authorities about...

68th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights  14 April – 4 May 2021  Dear Hon. Chairperson, Hon. Commissioners, all protocols observed. The Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA), welcomes the opportunity to respond to the activity report of the Special Rapporteur on...

The quarterly digest of petty offences campaign activities for November 2020 to February 2021 is in three languages, English, Portuguese and French.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism25 November 2020 Edward was lying on his bed when he heard shouting and banging. Last night had been fun: he’d hosted some friends at the LGBTQ+ homeless shelter where he lives and they had stayed up late, talking and drinking. As he pulled on his...

https://youtu.be/lUIqiZJJMlk The Legal Resources Foundation, Southern Africa Litigation Centre, Prisoners Reintergration and Empowerment Organisation and Decisive Minds put together a documentary on prison conditions in Zambia and the urgent need to decongest prisons. The documentary was published on Diamond TV Zambia.