Year: 2023
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.