Kidnapping in Nigeria: criminalising ransom payment isn’t working – families need support: Parents and relatives of students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Kaduna, who were kidnapped, hold placards during a demonstration in Abuja on May 4, 2021. Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images Kidnapping for ransom has become a national security threat in …
‘We have nothing left’ – the catastrophic consequences of criminalising livelihoods in west Africa: We were in Obalende: a bustling working-class neighbourhood of office buildings, shops and residential areas, on Lagos Island, Nigeria. During the day, the neighbourhood teems with small market stalls selling all manner of things, from fruit and vegetables to electronics, tailored …
Criminalising nitrous oxide users is no laughing matter if it distracts from more serious drug problems: In England and Wales, it is not illegal to possess nitrous oxide – but that could soon change. The UK’s home secretary, Priti Patel, has asked her scientific advisers to review the evidence on the harm associated with its …
Criminalising trespass will hurt Travellers most – but government proposals fail on their own terms: GarethWilley/Shutterstock Under new government proposals, police in the UK will be allowed to seize homes and arrest Travellers who refuse to move from unauthorised camps. A new law which effectively criminalises intentional trespass and imposes sentences of up to three …
Sea-Watch 3 captain arrested: EU complicit in criminalising search and rescue in the Mediterranean: Carola Rakete, captain of the Sea-Watch 3, was arrested on June 29 for docking the search and rescue vessel in Italy without permission. This is the latest confrontation in a longer battle launched by the Italian government against non-governmental organisations who …
Why criminalising non-violent extremism won’t prevent terrorism: In the wake of the terrorist attack on London Bridge, Theresa May said that recent attacks “are bound together by the single, evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism.” In 2015, the prime minister had written that where “non-violent extremism goes unchallenged, …