Updates Archives
Justice for Poor – Fight intensifies
The battle for legal representation for the poor has intensified with the Judiciary, some lawyers and civil society organisations backing a Legal Aid Bureau proposal
Report human interest stories – journalists told
Ghanaian journalists have been advised not to forget their core mandates as agenda setters to report human interests stories particularly on the vulnerable to engender
“Decriminalising poverty in South Africa” – Webinar report
South Africa’s Constitution, reflective of regional human rights law, embodies values and principles that mandate the adoption and implementation of measures that promote a more inclusive and egalitarian
Abuja High Court denounces violation of Women’s Rights by law enforcement agencies
12 August 2021, Abuja – On 5 August 2021, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division, per Justice Maha, handed down a groundbreaking decision against
Abuja High Court denounces violation of Women’s Rights by Law Enforcement Agencies
Lawyers Alert & SALC: On 5 August 2021, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division, per Justice Maha, handed down a groundbreaking decision against
Malawi High Court to Determine Constitutionality of Police Sweeping Exercises
21 June 2021, Blantyre – Today, Judge Zione Ntaba heard the case of State v Officer in Charge, Kasungu Police Station and Inspector General of
African Court Challenges States to rethink the Basis of their Criminal Laws
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
Africa: a Regional Campaign to Decriminalise Petty Offences
In March 2015, a street vendor named Mayeso Gwanda was arrested on his way to work in Malawi for being a ‘rogue and vagabond’. He
Prioritise non-custodial sentencing
Speakers at a roundtable discussion on sentencing in the country’s Criminal Justice System have called on judges to prioritise the option of non-custodial sentencing that
Campaign partner APCOF recommends investigation into bylaws
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,
Scrap Vagrancy Laws – Advocates Appeal
With the increasing number of inmates in Ghana’s prisons, crime prevention organization Crime Check Foundation (CCF) has partnered with the Open Society Initiative for West
Crime Check Foundation & OSIWA partner on Decriminalizing Vagrancy Laws and Advocacy (DVLA) project
The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) has extended funding support to Crime Check Foundation (CCF) in a collective quest to end laws, which
Decriminalising and declassifying petty offences in Tunisian legislation
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
Statement in response to the activity report of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa (Item 7)
68th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 14 April – 4 May 2021 Dear Hon. Chairperson, Hon. Commissioners, all protocols
Eleven people who are homeless go to court to challenge Cape Town’s discriminatory by-laws
Last week eleven people experiencing homlessness launched applications in both the Western Cape High Court and the Equality Court (South Africa) challenging the constitutionality and
Petty Offences Newsletter: November 2020 to February 2021 Activities
The quarterly digest of petty offences campaign activities for November 2020 to February 2021 is in three languages, English, Portuguese and French.
Imprisoned under the Cover of COVID
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
Documentary on Zambia prisons
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
Rwanda Should Stop Locking Up the Poor
Reliefweb 21 December 2020 African Court Decision Condemns Practice The African Court on Human and People’s Rights has held that states’ laws enabling the detention
COVID-19 Rules Haunt the Poor
The NationBy James Chavula27 January 2021 In 2017, a vendor moved the Constitutional Court to scrape a colonial law made by Britain in 1924 that
Decriminalization of Petty Offences in Morocco towards Restorative Justice
As part of the African campaign to decriminalise petty offences, the ADALA (Association “for the right to a fair trial”), with the support of the
South African vagrancy laws hark back to colonial times and violate human rights
Daily MaverickAbdirahman Maalim Gossar13 December 2020 In a watershed judgment, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has ruled that vague, outdated colonial-era laws,
African Court’s Landmark Opinion Could Reduce Criminalization of Poverty, Prison Overcrowding
All Africa Open Society Foundations (New York)‘s Press Release 4 December 2020 Today, a continental court in Africa delivered a landmark opinion on colonial era
Repeal Vagrancy Laws as they are Discriminatory: African Court Declares!
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in its 59th Ordinary Session, has today declared that vagrancy laws as contained in national laws are
Findings on Petty Offences Violations in Nigeria
Lawyers Alert in partnership with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) released petty offences violations data report for Nigeria. The data is captured using
Johannesburg cannot Police its Future
The Mail & Guardian On 29 June this year, amid the generalized panic and concern about rising Covid-19 infection and police brutality both locally and
Kenya’s Gulag: The Dehumanisation and Exploitation of Inmates in State Prisons
The ElephantBy Patrick Gathara Kenyan prisons today carry the DNA of their forebears – the colonial prisons and Mau Mau detention camps. They are about
Petty Offences Newsletter: Digest of Campaign activities in September 2020
In September 2020, the Regional Campaign to Decriminalise Petty Offences hosted a virtual conference entitled Policing Pandemics, Balancing Rights. The conference communique and recordings of the
Petty Offences Newsletter: Increased Criminalisation in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa
Regional Campaign partners remain deeply concerned about the criminalisation of poverty across our continent. It is critical that the Principles on the Decriminalisation of Petty
ZIMBABWE: Balancing Human Rights and Enforcement of Public Health Measures
ICJ Kenya By Richard Ncube Corona virus which is popularly known as COVID 19 has taken a terrible grip of the world- it is described
Malawi: Challenging Constitutionality of Rogue and Vagabond Offence
In March 2015, the applicant was arrested by police whilst on his way to the market where he works as a street vendor. He was
Moi, Mayeso Gwanda, j’ai fait invalider une loi coloniale vieille de 192 ans qui terrorisait le Malawi
“Il faut maintenant débarrasser l’Afrique d’autres lois similaires.” Ce témoignage de Mayeso Gwanda, vendeur à Blantyre, au Malawi, a été recueilli par l’Open Society Foundations,
Petty offences chocking the justice system, audit reveals
By Paul Muhoho The criminal justice system is jammed with less serious offences that contribute to unnecessary delay in prosecutions and congestion in detention centres,
Gwanda: Vendor who changed the law
Lawmakers have moved at a snail’s pace to change some draconian laws and history will record that it took a vendor to get the Constitutional
No more ‘Vakabu’ offence, Malawi court rules Rogue and vagabond law ‘unconstitutional’
The High Court in Blantyre has ruled that rogue and vagabond offence is unconstitutional. The determination was made by a panel of three judges comprising
Somali Association of South Africa v Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (48/2014) ZASCA 143 (26 September 2014).
Summary: Asylum seekers and refugees’ entitlement to apply for licences to trade in spaza and tuck-shops – no blanket prohibition against self-employment either in terms
Demystifying Petty Offences
K24’s Ian Wafula takes a look at Human rights violations in regards to petty offences, challenges and understanding your rights. Lorraine Ochiel (ICJ Kenya), Kimani
Kenya’s anti-gay laws lead to harassment, LGBT persons say, want change
By LYDIA MATATA, @lydiamatata. Activist and musician Joji Baro (George Barasa) hides his shoulder-length hair under a grey mavin. The 25 year-old likes to put
More petty offenders to be released after presidential pardon
By SIMON NDONGA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 21 – More petty offenders are set to be released on Friday after President Uhuru Kenyatta pardoned 7,000 inmates
Freed petty offenders back in police custody
Two petty offenders released last week on Presidential pardon are back in police custody on suspicions of committing fresh crimes. The two — one from
President Kenyatta releases 7,000 petty offenders
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday made good his promise and released 7,000 petty offenders in what he said was a move to free up space
Sex workers trained as paralegals protect colleagues from police harassment
By LYDIA MATATA, @lydiamatata. Esther served a three-month jail sentence when she began sex work aged 16. Unable to produce any identification documents, she was
Hawkers Diaries: Tale of suffering and years of deceit
By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 17 – It is survival of the fittest for the hundreds of hawkers operating within Nairobi – mostly those
Hawkers Diaries: I paid my way through college as a street vendor yet here I remain
By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 21- Before we started our interview with Samson Mwangi at his hawking base of operations, he was very categorical
Hawkers Diaries: I quit being a hawker after my friend was killed
By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 18 – For three years Mbugua (not his real name) doubled as a street hawker in Nairobi and a
Kenyans living with mental illness get lost in the criminal justice system
By LYDIA MATATA. Samuel Macharia Njoroge, 42, refers to his earlier years as the dark ages. “This is a period that I faced a lot
Decriminalisation of Vagrancy Laws in Malawi
The goals of the project include law reform initiatives aimed at the decriminalisation and/or declassification of minor nuisance-related offences in Malawi and the region; and
Meeting with Hawkers
ICJ Kenya held a forum to engage with hawkers on the decriminalization and declassification of petty crimes. This was informed by their recent subjection to
Drama as Nairobi Hawker Ducks Under Matatu to Avoid Arrest by City Askaris
A Nairobi hawker on Monday opted to hide under a matatu to avoid arrest by City Inspectorate askaris. In a video doing the rounds on social
City hawker ducks under matatu to evade arrest by city askaris
By NAIROBI NEWS REPORTER A journalist has captured a heart melting moment when a woman hawking onions in the city centre dives under a matatu
KTN Documentary Exposes Nairobi Askari Violations
KTN News recently aired the a four part series of an investigative documentary on how the Nairobi County Government Askaris extort, arrest, harass, maim and inhumanely
Why is Nairobi County Government allowing ‘Kanjo’ askaris to get away with human rights abuses?
By Daisy Okoti. Kenya’s leading investigative journalists, Muhammed Ali and John Alan Namu recently unveiled a disturbing series of the inhumane treatment in which hawkers
Petty Offences
The Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Accelerating Prison and Penal Reform in Africa of 2003[1] endorsed recommendations calling for reducing the size of
Key Concepts of Petty Offences
Bail: The temporary release of an accused person from prison pending trial, sometimes on condition that a sum of money be paid to the Court
Time to give street families a chance, not judge
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 2 – It is a tale of untold suffering when you have to live on a day-to-day basis with the normal life
Short Survey on Laws Criminalizing Petty Offences in National Jurisdictions across Africa
Dear Esteemed Colleagues, The Pan African Lawyers Union, in collaboration with a consortium of Civil Society Organisations*, is conducting a survey on criminalisation and penalisation
Arrests for petty offences
The ICCPR guarantees everyone the equal enjoyment of civil and political rights in the Covenant,[1] the right to liberty and security of person,[2] and not
SOUTH AFRICA: Police Target and Shuts Down Refugees Shops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mihfRxJd2V0 By Jama Judah. “About 10 of us were supported by that shop,” he said. “We’re being fed by the community, through the mosque, but
Hawker shot dead by Nairobi City Council askari
By Cyrus Ombati. NAIROBI, KENYA: A hawker was Tuesday night shot dead and two others wounded in a confrontation with City Council askaris along Tom
Outdated vagrancy laws must go
ByLouise Ehlers | July 22nd, 2013 Data gathered during the audit of pre-trial detainees in Malawi suggests that the yearly exposure of the population to
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.
@DecrimPS
#DecrimPoverty | #DecrimStatus | #DecrimActivism