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 of the ‘broken window’ approach to policing is failing to provide safety for the most vulnerable groups of the society. Laying out clear alternatives based on credible, existing solutions to tackling homelessness, it calls on the different actors to ‘collectively imagine alternative, sustainable interventions and move away from the blunt instrument of criminalisation’.
Why the courts alone can’t solve homelessness

Date:
9 March, 2022
9 March, 2022
Themes:
Petty Offences
Alternatives to Criminalisation
Human Rights
Policing
Pre-trial Detention
Use of Public Spaces
Petty Offences
Alternatives to Criminalisation
Human Rights
Policing
Pre-trial Detention
Use of Public Spaces
Countries:
South Africa
South Africa
Regions:
Africa
Africa
Campaign Partners:
Africa Policing Civilian Oversight Forum
Africa Policing Civilian Oversight Forum

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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