The Sierra Leonean authorities must repeal vagrancy laws without delay, following a landmark ruling by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court that the colonial-era legislation discriminates against poor people and other marginalized groups, Amnesty International said.
The ruling, made on 7 November, found that Sierra Leone's vagrancy laws - which criminalize anyone deemed to be "loitering" in public and "not giving a good account of himself" as an "idle and disorderly person" - are in breach of its duties under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and ordered the government to take the appropriate legislative measures to address the breach.
"We welcome this historic judgment, which is a step forward in protecting the human rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. This judgment reiterates that laws criminalizing loitering are discriminatory as they punish people living in poverty and other marginalized groups simply because of their social and economic status," said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International's Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
Amnesty International calls on Sierra Leone and all other countries to repeal vagrancy laws as well as all the other criminal laws that have a disproportionate impact on marginalized groups.
The ruling found that Sierra Leone's two domestic laws on loitering violate the rights to non-discrimination and freedom of movement, which are protected by Articles 2, 3 (1) and 12 (1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The ECOWAS Court also emphasized that Sierra Leone violated Article 1 of the Charter, which requires states to adopt laws that guarantee the rights protected by the Charter. Sierra Leone's failure to repeal loitering laws is at odds with that duty.
On 22 March 2023, Amnesty International submitted a third-party intervention to the ECOWAS Court noting that loitering and other vagrancy laws discriminate against people living in poverty, LGBTI people and sex-workers and violate their right to dignity, as well as the principle of legality. In its judgment, the Court highlighted that rather than targeting harmful acts, vagrancy laws, including laws punishing loitering, "target the status of individuals who invariably happen to be poor or underprivileged". In addition, the ruling points out that due to their "vagueness and imprecision, [loitering laws] lend themselves to arbitrary application and therefore fall short of international human rights standards". The Court emphasized that appropriate social interventions rather than criminalization are more compliant with the government's human rights obligations with respect to the poor and vulnerable.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Criminal laws punishing loitering and other petty offences, such as, for example, 'being a vagrant', 'being a rogue and vagabond' or 'being an idle and disorderly person', remains in force in 33 countries across the African continent and in many other countries globally.
Amnesty International calls on Sierra Leone and all other countries to repeal vagrancy laws as well as all the other criminal laws that have a disproportionate impact on marginalized groups, including LGBTI people, sex-workers and people living in poverty.
Background
Loitering in Sierra Leone is a petty offence that is defined in the Public Order Act of 1965 and the Summary Conviction Offences Ordinance of 1906. Section 7 of the Public Order Act provides that "Any person loitering in or about any stable house or building, or under any piazza, or in the open air, and not having any visible means of subsistence, and not giving a good account of himself, shall be deemed an idle and disorderly person, and shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to imprisonment for any period, not exceeding one month".
Vagrancy laws are part of the legacy of colonialism and slavery as they were introduced in Africa and other regions by colonial powers under the pretext of protecting public order. In several countries, including Sierra Leone, these laws were introduced through a model criminal code based on the English Vagrancy Act of 1824.
