Year: 2024
At first glance, the term "fair
trial" might suggest a distinction between fair and unfair trials. However, If we look at it more deeply, it reveals that justice is an
essential aspect of any trial. In other words, there is a close relationship
between the concepts of trial and justice, so that if a trial is unfair, it
loses its true meaning and can be labeled differently and presented in another
form. Either there is no trial, or there is justice.
Due to the importance of justice in
the judicial context, a significant portion of the intellectual efforts of
philosophers and lawyers has been directed toward identifying the injustices
present within that context. At the international level, various treaties have
established the framework for fair trials, while at the national level,
constitutions and laws set forth principles and rules to ensure fairness. Therefore,
it is not surprising that many books, academic papers, and manuals are
published annually in all the world's major languages on this topic.
The Kurdistan Center for
International Law (KCIL) took on the task of preparing and publishing this manual
due to the importance of the subject and the absence of any sources on fair
trials in the Kurdish language in Kurdish libraries. Initially, a group of
judges was assigned to draft the manual, after which the draft was discussed
with several experts and opinion leaders. The draft then went through a
linguistic review process. To sum up the thoughts, this manual is the result of
a collaborative effort among several teams: the writing team, the support team,
and the linguistic team. Each team played a role in the publication of the
first manual, marking it as the first Kurdish publication on fair trials. Although this is a manual and not an
academic study, but the nature of the topic requires the use of a comparative
approach. This means that the manual addresses both international and local
aspects of the subject, helping the reader naturally compare Iraqi and Kurdish
laws based on international fair trial standards.
It is worth noting that the
publication of this manual marks the first step in our center's long-term
journey towards ensuring fair trials. Efforts will continue to elevate this
manual to a higher standard. In other words, from the center's perspective, this
manual serves as the foundation upon which we will build a significant future
project. It is important to mention that this manual is part of a series of
publications by the KCIL, and it was published with support from the the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA) via German
Federal Foreign Office.