Petty offences scorecard
The Petty Offences Scorecard is a web-based tool developed by the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) and the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) for the Global Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status.
The purpose of the Scorecard is to track and promote implementation of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) Principles on the Decriminalisation of Petty Offences in Africa.
This Scorecard is based on a standardised questionnaire, piloted in South Africa, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire, drawing on national and local laws, court decisions and case law, police and court data (where available), civil society and NHRI resources, research, and media reports.
Administrative bans and limited data, weak reform or oversight structures.
Laws and bans criminalise life sustaining activities in public spaces, especially in Abidjan, poor transparency and little evidence or reform or judiciary scrutiny.
Criminalisation entrenched, harsh enforcement, early reform signals but slow progress.
Criminal laws and county by-laws actively penalise poverty, frequent mass arrests and rights abuses, reforms identified but not implemented.
Widespread criminalisation via by-laws, some judicial pushback and early municipal reforms.
Municipal by-laws still penalise poverty-linked behaviours, but some progressive case law and policy alternatives are emerging in metro areas.
Moderate concern
Criminalisation exists, some rights impacted, early signs of reform or oversight.
Behind the scorecards
Petty offences are minor, non-violent offences that criminalise everyday acts associated with poverty, status, or survival in public spaces. These include laws against loitering, being ‘idle and disorderly’, begging, hawking without a permit, or sleeping in public places. These offences are often vague and overly broad, giving wide discretion to law enforcement and disproportionately target people who are poor, homeless, or otherwise marginalise.
Why does implementation of the Principles matter?
Across the continent, the enforcement of petty offences results in widespread human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrest, detention in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, police abuse, and the criminalisation of poverty itself. The ACHPR Principles provide African states with a clear, rights-based roadmap to reform laws and policing practices that punish people for their social or economic status. Promoting implementation is essential to ensuring dignity, equality, and justice for all.
What the Scorecard measures
The Scorecard assesses progress in four key areas that were identified by the ACHPR as the most critical human rights concerns when it comes to criminalising poverty and status related offences:
- Freedom from discrimination: Who is most affected by petty offences?
- Freedom from arbitrary arrest: How are petty offences policed and enforced?
- Freedom from ill-treatment: What is the impact on detention and prison overcrowding of petty offence enforcement?
- Implementation of the Principles: what reforms or safeguards have been adopted by states?
About the scoring system
Progressing
Progressing
Active decriminalisation efforts, state/civil society collaboration, evidence of change.
Watchpoint
Watchpoint
Limited or inconsistent data, weak implementation, unclear trends.
Moderate concern
Moderate concern
Criminalisation exists, some rights impacted, early signs of reform or oversight.
High concern
High concern
Widespread criminalisation, harsh enforcement, little or no reform.
Populating the Scorecard
The Scorecard is based on a standardised questionnaire developed by NANHRI and APCOF, and piloted in South Africa, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire. It draws on national and local laws, court decisions and case law, police and court data (where available), civil society and NHRI resources, research, and media reports.
Each country page presents a concise, structured summary of the findings of the questionnaire. As the project expands, more states will be added to build a continent-wide picture of progress, and ongoing challenges, in the decriminalisation of poverty and status related offences.
Contribute to the scorecard
Help expand the Scorecard and/or keep our information current by contributing details about your own country.
The Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status is a coalition of organisations from across the world that advocate for the repeal of laws that target people based on poverty, status or for their activism.
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