Over 30 participants from Bangladesh, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, including representatives of civil society, UN agencies and current and former members of the judiciary attended the consultation.
The consultation followed an Africa regional consultation held in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 2024 which took place as part of a joint project to produce a Practitioner’s Guide on a human rights-based approach to criminal law, including on ways to further the decriminalisation of poverty and status.
The Guide will be launched at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in October 2024 and will serve as a reference and guide to justice sector actors and others – such legislatures, government officials, policy-makers, national human rights institutions, oversight bodies, victims’ groups, human rights advocates, civil society organizations and academics. The Guide will offer a clear, accessible and operational legal framework and practical legal guidance.
Issues discussed included:
- the applicable international, regional and national criminal law and human rights standards;
- examples of the criminalisation of conduct associated with poverty and status in the region; and
- the role played by judges, prosecutors, lawyers and civil society in the decriminalisation of conduct associated with poverty and status in the region.
Further reading
More information on the project is available here.
The project form part of the global campaign to decriminalise poverty and status
A human rights-based approach to criminal law: Africa regional consultation