Amnesty International: Following the banning of a number of demonstrations protesting police violence after the unlawful killing of 17-year-old Nahel M by a police officer,

Invisible People: A new report shows why cities often respond to homelessness with criminalization and punitive punishments. Developed by Community Solutions, a nonprofit housing advocacy

Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) notes that the Uganda Law Revision (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2023, has repealed some of the rogue and vagabond, sedition, and

SALC: Botswana’s Parliament intends to table a number of bills in the current session, one of which seeks to repeal section 164 of the Penal

The Eswatini Supreme Court has controversially reinstated the state’s appeal against a liberal landmark high court judgment passed in 2016. After a lapse of six

Two months before presidential and parliamentary elections on 23 August, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges Zimbabwe to abandon a proposed “sovereignty and national interest” law that poses

On 28 June 2023, ACJR in collaboration with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) hosted a webinar on The Right to Public Spaces and Informal

Prison Insider: Incarceration is the response that States often impose on unwanted behaviours. In many countries, criminal law and prison are used to target those

Delegates at the recent Mental Health Conference in South Africa pushed for the decriminalisation of suicide. A media coverage from Kenya highlights the issues and

PRI: Pre-trial detention contributes significantly to prison overcrowding and causes a range of harms to individuals, their familes, and society. But what is driving its use? In

At the UN General Assembly High-Level Debate on Equal Access to Justice For All on June 15th, 2023, Richard Arbeiter, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative

A majority of countries in Africa¹ have some type of “vagrancy laws”, meaning laws which consider people that are or are perceived to be poor, homeless

Mr X is a Congolese man who was living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In early June 2006, he lost his passport. He went to

Some 20 years ago, Ibrahim Kingori Njoki was involved in a brawl. He was later convicted of creating a disturbance, contrary to Section 95(1) of

Hope Behind Bars Africa has said that most awaiting trail inmates in Nigeria have been languishing in our Custodial facilities for petty crimes like loitering

The outrage caused by the jailing of a mother for ending her pregnancy after the legal limit should spark a wider rethink of archaic legislation.

On May 22-26, members of the Campaign attended the 32nd session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), which is the principal

SALC: Mbabane, Eswatini: 16 June 2023 – Today, a five-panel bench of the Supreme Court of Eswatini passed a judgement setting aside the decision by the

The murder of prominent human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and the subsequent admission by the government that it hired ‘security experts’ to deal with pro-democracy

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in an amicus curiae brief submitted today, has requested the East Jakarta District Court to give effect to Indonesia’s

The offence of being ‘rogue and vagabond’ saw people detained for how they looked. Now it’s gone, but there’s more to do. On 5 December,

SALC & CHREAA: On 5 June 2023, the High Court of Malawi granted leave for judicial review to challenge the Lilongwe by-laws evicting informal traders

It’s clear we’re not going to achieve decrim in 2024″ say activist Parliament’s draft bill to decriminalise sex work is to be revised after the

CJ-PAP: The systemic oppression of marginalised communities by the criminal justice system is poorly understood and rarely questioned. Here’s how this is changing. In 1871,

Data also shows black defendants more likely to be held in prison – yet more likely to be acquitted Black defendants spend on average more

States around the world should repeal discriminatory and archaic laws that reproduce historical inequalities and patterns of oppression. In 2018, Theresa May, then UK prime

SALC: On 31 May 2023, 28 men were arrested in Harare CBD under the country’s vagrancy laws. These arrests raise the question of why vagrancy

Addis Ababa, 18 May 2023: The African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) organized the AUC-NANHRI Policy

Responding to the Hong Kong government’s bid to seek a court order to prohibit people from singing, broadcasting or distributing the protest song “Glory to

SALC: SALC is alarmed by the passing of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill, also known as the “Patriotic Bill”, by the lower

Fines & Fees Justice Center: The United States’ overreliance on legal fees and fines is directly impacting one in three American families, according to a

Demonstrations broke out in Senegal after a court sentenced opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison. He was convicted of “corrupting the youth”

Amnesty International: Responding to the arrests of four people for “seditious intention and disorderly conduct” in Hong Kong ahead of the 34th anniversary of the

SALC: In the past several months, South Africa’s foreign policy has been in the spotlight for essential and existential reasons that significantly impact geopolitics and

Amnesty International: The launch of the Malalamishi app by the Director of the Office of Public Prosecutions this week offers another glimmer of hope for

A number of organizations sent a letter to Malaysia’s Home Affairs Minister and Minister of Law urging that the government repeal the Sedition Act, in

PRI: While 261,200 children are estimated to be in detention globally, child-specific justice legislation, child-friendly courts and specialised procedures continue to divert children away from the criminal justice system

Maputo, 24 May 2023 – Today, 2000 Mozambican citizens, under the leadership of lawyer and human rights activist, Maria Alice Mabota, filed a petition before the Constitutional

Amnesty International: A Tunisian court’s decision to sentence opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi to prison under Tunisia’s anti-terrorism law highlights an intensifying campaign against the country’s

Amnesty International: The Beirut Court of Appeals’ decision to dismiss the petition by lawyers seeking the annulment of apparently unconstitutional amendments to lawyers’ code of

APCOF delivered a statement on behalf of the Campaign during the 75th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, held in Banjul and online.

On 2 December 2022, in a ground-breaking decision for street vendors and other informal workers, the Constitutional Court of Uganda in Francis Tumwesige Ateenyi v Attorney

SALC: On 8 May 2023, the High Court of Malawi delivered a judgment declaring that the unwritten or written policy of the Government requiring all

Ndifuna Ukwazi: Treating the life-sustaining activities of street-based people as a criminal nuisance, in the manner that the City of Cape Town’s by-laws do, will

(May 5, 2023, Washington, DC) – The National Homelessness Law Center is outraged over the strangulation and murder of Jordan Neely Monday, May 1, 2023. The Law

SALC: The Botswana courts are among the very few in Southern Africa that has set a trajectory in realizing and protecting LGBTIQ+ rights.  In 2016,

SALC: Publishing false news or alarming/misleading information, defined differently in different jurisdictions, has a long and infamous history. From ancient Rome to the present day,

Amnesty International: Authorities across East and Southern Africa escalated their attacks against journalists and press freedom across the region to suppress reporting of corruption and

The Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (IE SOGI), Mr. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, will dedicate his report

Hope Behind Bars: On February 17, 2023, viral social media allegations of extra-judicial killings led to the arrest of three police officers in Anambra state. CSP Patrick