This joint submission by SRI, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), IWRAW AP, Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN) focuses on ‘protectionist’ criminal laws and their impact on homelessness and poverty and was prepared in response to a joint call for input by the Special Rapporteurs on housing and poverty on the decriminalization of homelessness and extreme poverty.
Criminal laws that purport to ‘protect’ society, morality, public order or public health - including laws that criminalise sex work or drug use - often harm the communities they are meant to safeguard. They do so by entrenching stigma, discrimination, and policing of people who are marginalised on the basis of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or class. In many cases, ‘protectionist’ criminal laws are also a determinant element in placing such persons in a situation of homelessness, and in denying shelter or public housing.
This submission provides a conceptual background and evidence for how ‘protectionist’ criminal laws - particularly in the fields of sex work and drug use - contribute to these trends. It provides recommendations for the forthcoming joint report by the Special Rapporteurs on housing and poverty and urges them to go beyond the decriminalisation of life-sustaining activities and to join a growing number of human rights bodies in calling for the decriminalisation of all activities relating to sex work and drug use.
The Special Rapporteurs’ study was presented during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council and is available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2023/call-input-decriminalization-homelessness-and-extreme-poverty
The submitting organizations also commented on the Special Rapporteurs’ study in a joint statement: https://www.sexualrightsinitiative.org/news/2024-jul/hrc-56-idpc-gaatw-whrin-hri-iwraw-and-sri-joint-statement-interactive-dialogue-sr