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On 9 and 10 September 2024, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) and its partners, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), held an Asia and Caribbean regional consultation on a human rights-based approach to criminal law with stakeholders in Bangkok, Thailand focussed on the decriminalisation of poverty and status.

 

A human rights-based approach to criminal law: Asia and Caribbean regional consultation, at the ICwS
Attendees of the Asia and Caribbean regional consultation

Over 30 participants joined the event, including representatives of civil society, UN agencies and current and former members of the judiciary. Nearly 20 countries were represented including from Bangladesh, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Thailand, Trinadad and Tobago, and Myanmar.

The consultation followed an Africa regional consultation held in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 2024.

The consultation 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 information

You can read more about the project here.

The ICJ has published a set of legal principles (The 8 March Principles) to address the harmful human rights impact of unjustified criminalisation of individuals and entire communities.

The project form part of the global campaign to decriminalise poverty and status.