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 Meeting in Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania. The project is being implemented together with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).

Co-presenting on the project was Supreme Court Justice of Mauritius and ICJ Commissioner, Justice Aruna Devi Narain who described the global challenge and introduced the ICJ’s publication, The 8 March Principles, on a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law(Opens in new window).

The project will deliver a Practitioners’ Guide (PG) on a human rights-based approach to criminal law, including on ways to further the decriminalisation of poverty and status.  The PG will serve as a reference and guide to justice sector actors and others – such legislatures, government officials, policy-makers, national human rights institutions, oversight bodies, victims’ groups, human rights advocates, civil society organizations and academics – offering a clear, accessible and operational legal framework and practical legal guidance.

Read full article: Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting: decriminalise poverty and status

Photo from Institute of Commonwealth Studies