On 4 December 2020, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights unanimously held that vagrancy laws and related by-laws are incompatible with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women.
On 10 April 2020, Mr Collins Khosa was brutalised, tortured and murdered in his own home by security forces deployed to enforce South Africa's Disaster Management Act ("lockdown") regulations. The family of Mr Khosa brought an application to court to attempt to ensure such brutality does not happen again. The court ordered the Minister and various agencies of state to take a range of preventative measures. The state was ordered to pay costs.
Over 163,000 people are in correctional facilities in South Africa. Outbreaks of Covid-19 in these prisons can have catastrophic consequences for both prisoners and the public healthcare system.
PRESS RELEASE: Launch of the Decriminalisation of Petty By-Laws Campaign in South Africa
Today, World Homeless Day, marks the official launch of a civil society campaign to decriminalise poverty-related by-laws in South Africa. We reject the effective criminalisation of poverty through municipal by-laws currently targeting the poor and the most marginalised in South Africa.
Today, World Homeless Day, marks the official launch of a civil society campaign to decriminalise poverty-related by-laws in South Africa.
The New Times reports that The Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye, told the newspaper in a telephone interview that this step finally means that Rwandans can now be fully governed by the laws that they have made themselves. The said laws were enacted between 1885 and 1962, when Rwanda obtained independence from Belgium.
The New Times reports that The Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye, told the newspaper in a telephone interview that this step finally means that Rwandans can now be fully governed by the laws that they have made themselves. The said laws were enacted between 1885 and 1962, when Rwanda obtained independence from Belgium.
The Director of Public Prosecutions(DPP) in Kenya on 12 March 2019 issued practice directions on how to handle the offence of touting. This offence was among the many offences identified as petty and was the subject of extensive stakeholder engagement to have it decriminalised. The Office of the DPP conducted a further research ,and paid visits to select remand facilities in Kenya in partnership with ICJ Kenya and other stakeholders. The findings of the research informed the decision by the DPP to issue practice directions on how to deal with the offence of touting.
