Vincentian lawyer, activist, writer, and NGO leader Mr. Jeshua Bardoo was pleased to attend his second Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa.
This year, CHOGM took place in Apia, Samoa, from the 21st -26th of October 2024. It was the first CHOGM held in a Pacific Small Island Developing State.
Bardoo attended CHOGM 2024 on an invitation from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Founded in 1949 and part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies is the only postgraduate academic institution in the United Kingdom devoted to the study of the Commonwealth. The Director of the Institute is Professor Kingsley Abbott.
During CHOGM 2024, the Institute launched its Practitioners’ Guide on “A Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law, Including the Decriminalization of Conduct Associated with Poverty and Status”.
At this year’s CHOGM, Bardoo participated in two panel discussions surrounding laws criminalizing poverty, status, and homelessness. He advocated for reform and discussed the intersectionality of laws and how they impact vulnerable populations not only in the Independent Anglophone Caribbean but across the entire Commonwealth.
Reflecting on CHOGM 2024, Bardoo stated: “It was truly an honor to have been invited by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies to attend CHOGM 2024. I am privileged to continue to get these opportunities where I can meet with powerful and influential people from all over the world and advocate for change.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as many Commonwealth countries, continue to have laws that criminalize poverty, homelessness, and status. Many persons impacted by these laws are often already disadvantaged in society and these laws only serve to further criminalize, stigmatize, discriminate, and perpetuate harmful stereotypes against them.
Throwing people in jail time is not always the answer. Vulnerable groups need care, support, and protection in order to actualize their fullest potential.
As a society, we have to move on, we have to reform our laws, we have to seek and develop solutions that effectively address the most pressing human rights issues of our time, we need to get rid of harmful British-inspired colonial laws and laws created by regressive governments that do not have any place whatsoever in our modern democracies. We have to be proactive, demand better from our leaders, and be the change that we want to see in society.
Spare life and good health, I will continue to use my little voice to speak on, my little pen to write on, and my abilities to take action, on these important human rights issues on the biggest, loudest, and most influential platforms I am given an opportunity to utilize.”
