The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights have established the right to a fair trial as an internationally recognized human rights norm. This volume examines the origins of the right to a fair trial as articulated in the Universal Declaration and the Covenant. The right to a fair trial has been the subject of more interpretation and adjudication than other rights in the Covenant. Accordingly, the book analyzes the fair trial jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee under the Covenant. The book also explores the process by which some aspects of the right to a fair trial have gradually been considered non-derogable, that is, not subject to suspension even in times of public emergency. This volume should provide a convenient tool for human rights advocates, judges, lawyers, scholars, and others involved with and interested in the right to a fair trial. This book is the first volume in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Series. The Series will consist of approximately 20 volumes, each dealing with a substantive right (or group of rights) set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Each volume is authored by an expert in human rights generally and in the particular subject addressed. Without losing sight of the political context in which the implementation of human rights must occur, each book provides a comprehensive, legally-oriented analysis of the rights concerned, including an examination of the legislative history of the text of each right as adopted in 1948, the right's subsequent articulation and interpretation by international bodies and in subsequent international instruments, and a survey of state practice in defining and enforcing the right.
The volume contains the papers submitted to the International Symposium on "The Right to a Fair Trial" held at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. The Symposium undertook one of the most comprehensive surveys in recent times of the implications of the fair trial principle with regard to criminal proceedings, ranging from the rights of the accused during the pre-trial procedure through the principle of impartiality of judges to the application of the right to a fair trial in emergency situations, both under domestic and international law. Well-known specialists assess to which extent these standards have actually been implemented in national legal systems and what reforms are necessary to enhance the effectiveness of international human rights law in this area.
Language and the Right to Fair Hearing in International Criminal Trials explores the influence of the dynamic factor of language on trial fairness in international criminal proceedings. By means of empirical research and jurisprudential analysis, this book explores the implications that conducting a trial in more than one language can have for the right to fair trial. It reveals that the language debate is as old as international criminal justice, but due to misrepresentation of the status of language fair trial rights in international law, the debate has not yielded concrete reforms. Language is the core foundation for justice. It is the means through which the rights of the accused are secured and exercised. Linguistic complexities such as misunderstandings, translation errors and cultural distance among participants in international criminal trials affect courtroom communication, the presentation and the perception of the evidence, hence jeopardizing the foundations of a fair trial. The author concludes that language fair trial rights are priority rights situated in the minimum guarantees of fair criminal trial; the obligation of the court to ensure fair trial or accord the accused person a fair hearing also includes the duty to ensure they can understand and be understood.
This work deals with the exclusion of illicitly obtained evidence at the International Criminal Court. At the level of domestic law, the so-called exclusionary rule has always been a very prominent topic. The reason for this is that the way a court of law deals with tainted evidence pertains to a key aspect of procedural fairness. It concerns the balancing of the right to a fair trial with the interest of society in effective law enforcement. At the international level, however, the subject has not yet been discussed in detail. The present research intends to fill this gap. It provides an overview of the approaches of a number of domestic legal systems as well as of the approaches of the UN ad hoc tribunals and the European Court of Human Rights and uses the different perspectives to develop a version of the exclusionary rule which fits the International Criminal Court. The book is highly recommended for practitioners and researchers in the field of international criminal law and especially the law of international criminal evidence. Petra Viebig is a Public Prosecutor at the Staatsanwaltschaft Hamburg, Germany.
The Right to a Fair Trial in International Lawbrings together the diverse sources of international law that define the right to a fair trial in the context of criminal (as opposed to civil, administrative or other) proceedings. The book provides a comprehensive explanation of what the right to a fair trial means in practice under international law and focuses on factual scenarios that practitioners and judges may face in court. Each of the book's fourteen chapters examines a component of the right to a fair trial as defined in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and reviews the case law of regional human rights courts, international criminal courts as well as UN human rights bodies. Highlighting both consensus and divisions in the international jurisprudence in this area, this book provides an invaluable resource to practitioners and scholars dealing with breaches of one of the most fundamental human rights.
Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, , language: English, abstract: This work is guided by the quote “the entire judicial process should not be looked at as an event or even be perceived as a procedure but rather a serious undertaking that ensures the country is governed by the rule of law”(Paul Kagame Judicial Year 2017/18). Fair trials are the only way to prevent miscarriages of justice and are an essential part of a just society. Every person accused of a crime should have their guilt or innocence determined by a fair and effective legal process. But it is not all about protecting the rights of accused, It also makes societies safer and stronger. Without fair trials, citizens may end up being victimized, without fair trials, trust in government and its institutional rule of law collapses. In a fair trial, parties before court are treated equal to defend themselves and present evidence. They must be heard impartially and without any prejudice. There must be a neutral and impartial judge who would ensure that all procedural requirement have been met and keep in mind the rights of the parties in the trial.
Scientific Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, , course: Rechtswissenschaft (Völkerrecht), language: English, abstract: Is the right to fair trial applicable to immigration law cases? In this essay, we will see that the situation in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Turkey differs significantly from the situation in the other states which are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It is the aim of this text to provide lawyers in those countries with a short guidance as to how to approach both the European Court of Human Rights but also – and even more importantly – domestic courts with regard to this issue. In particular the high caseload of immigation law courts as well as a lack of knowledge about the Convention make it necessary for practising lawyers to be informed about the rights of their clients. This article is designed as a practical guide and first reference paper for lawyers to assess the prospect of cases dealing with rights of migrants. The first part of this article will deal with ratione loci of the ECHR and its fundamental jurisprudence focusing on the special issues appearing in the context of migration law. In the second part the right to a fair trial under Art. 6 ECHR will be addressed including recent rulings of the Court and fundamental questions regarding the administrative procedure of granting asylum. The final part will be dealing with the rights of asylum seekers in countries which did not ratify Protocol 7 and the consequences this fact entails.
This volume considers the way in which the focus on individual rights may constitute an obstacle to ensuring fairness in criminal proceedings. The increasingly cosmopolitan nature of criminal justice, forcing legal systems with different institutional forms and practices to interact with each other as they attempt to combat crime beyond national borders, has accentuated the need for systems to seek legitimacy beyond their domestic traditions. Fairness, expressed in terms of the right to a fair trial in provisions such as Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, has emerged across Europe as the principal means of guaranteeing the legitimacy of criminal proceedings. The consequence of this is that criminal procedure doctrines are framed overwhelmingly in 'constitutional' terms – the protection of defence rights is necessary to restrict and legitimate the state's mandate to prosecute crime. Yet there are various problems with relying solely or predominantly on defence rights as a means of ensuring that proceedings are 'fair' or legitimate and these issues are rarely discussed in the academic literature. In this volume, scholars from the disciplines of law, philosophy and sociology challenge various normative assumptions underpinning our understanding of fairness in criminal proceedings.
