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Right to Equality before Courts and Tribunals and to Fair Trial

Year: 2023
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The general comment No 32 of the Human Rights committee, which the KCIL in cooperation with Ifa via FFO fund, translated into Kurdish language, explains thee right to equality before the courts and tribunals and to a fair trial which is a key element of human rights protection and serves as a procedural means to safeguard the rule of law. The General Comment aims at ensuring the proper administration of justice, and to this end guarantees a series of specific rights.

Article 14 of the International Convection on the Political and Civil Rights (ICPR) is of a particularly complex nature, combining various guarantees with different scopes of application, it sets out a general guarantee of equality before courts and tribunals that applies regardless of the nature of proceedings before such bodies, and entitles individuals to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law, if they face any criminal charges or if their rights and obligations are determined in a suit at law, also contains procedural guarantees available to persons charged with a criminal offence, and a substantive right to compensation in cases of miscarriage of justice in criminal cases, as well as prohibits double jeopardy and thus guarantees a substantive freedom, namely the right to remain free from being tried or punished again for an offence for which an individual has already been finally convicted or acquitted.