Commonwealth Lawyers Presented with Practitioners' Guide on the Decriminalisation of Poverty and Status

On 8 April 2025, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and its partners, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Commission of Jurists, and the Global Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status presented the newly launched Practitioners’ Guide on the Decriminalisation of Poverty and Status in the Commonwealth to Commonwealth Lawyers.

The presentation took place at the biennial Commonwealth Law Conference 2025 held in Malta between 6 and 10 April. The Conference was organised by Institute partners, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and was attended by approximately 500 participants from all over the world.

The panel discussed the history behind the Practitioners’ Guide, the global challenge of decriminalisation in the Caribbean and across the Commonwealth and future plans, including the upcoming tabling for endorsement of the Guide by  Commonwealth Law Ministers and its implementation across the Commonwealth.

The Institute’s briefing paper on the decriminalisation of poverty and status focussed on Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was also discussed.

The panel was made up of:

• Chair: Professor Kingsley Abbott, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies
• Panellists: Dr Olivia Lwabukuna, Senior Lecturer, International Human Rights, Institute of Commonwealth Studies
• Dr Cherisse Francis, Senior Lecturer (Law) at St. Mary's University and Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies
• Nancy Kanyago, Legal Advisor, Rule of Law Section, Commonwealth Secretariat