ECOWAS Court Strikes Down Colonial Vagrancy Laws: A Victory Against Poverty Criminalisation

By Iain Byrne The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice’s landmark 7 November 2024 judgment in a case Amnesty International intervened in could signal the beginning of the end for colonial-era vagrancy laws that criminalise poverty and perpetuate inequality across Africa and beyond. Amnesty, alongside the Consortium for Street Children and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, submitted arguments […]