Search

Since colonial times, migration has remained one of the most contentious issues in Assam, a frontier state (province) in northeast India. Illegal migration in the post-colonial period continues to have an enormous bearing on the issue of citizenship in the state. As political negotiations falter in reaching an amicable resolution, the ongoing debate surrounding migration and citizenship has compelled the judiciary to take a decisive role in determining who qualifies as a citizen versus who may be considered a foreigner. We refer to this process as “adjudicated citizenship”. This article deals with the process of adjudication over citizenship by investigating and analysing select judgements of the judiciary at different levels. The article argues that these judgements have brought fresh debates, insights, and contestations over the idea of citizenship and the institutional mechanisms in determining citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a critical examination of Igor Soikhedbrod's Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism: Rethinking Justice, Legality, and Rights. We argue that the book presents an important criticism of antinomian forms of critical theory, which underplay the extent to which Marx engaged in an imminent critique of liberal societies, including the rule of law, and upheld that progressive advances enshrined in this rule should be carried over or sublated in a communist dispensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the measures implemented by countries in the field of access and administration of justice, focusing on the use of electronic justice as a comprehensive remote mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examines the experiences of the European Union and Ukraine to understand the effectiveness of electronic justice in ensuring the right of access to justice. Various scientific methods such as legal-statistical, systematic, formal-legal, and cybernetic methods were employed in the study. The analysis reveals that the measures taken by countries to prevent restrictions on human rights in the judicial system are not perfect and require further development. The study identifies key issues in the practical implementation of electronic justice and provides specific recommendations for improvement. The research fills a gap in comprehensive scientific studies on continuous and effective consideration of court cases during the pandemic. The practical and scientific value of the article lies in its relevance to practitioners and scholars worldwide, who are interested in the realization of the right of access to justice and the functioning of electronic justice. The national experiences and recommendations presented in the article can also be applied by European countries to enhance the effectiveness of their electronic justice systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite calls for no one to be left behind, women and girls with disabilities continue to face systemic marginalisation and gaps in rights protections that limit their access to education, health, public services, and justice. Research in transnational and international relations offers little to help understand this gendered disability injustice. This article examines how discussions of elements of justice as redistributive, recognition, participative and restorative address people with disabilities as well as how disability rights within the United Nations treaty body system address the four elements of justice. Drawing on both academic and community critiques of both disability rights and justice, the article asks how our understandings of justice and rights perpetuate these exclusions and what transformative changes are required to redress the marginalisation of women and girls with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the nature, role and interpretive meanings of autistic children's independent and social play with peers to inform inclusive practices. Topics include: neurodevelopmental and sociocultural influences on autistic children's peer play experiences; limitations of a neurotypicality framework and advantages of a neurodiversity framework for delineating divergent expressions and developmental variations in play; illustration of the Integrated Play Groups model for guiding autistic and neurotypical children in co-creating an inclusive play culture; implications for inclusive practices from human rights and social justice perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have addressed restrictions on individual liberty, or deprivations thereof, that do not entail prison or jail—including area restrictions, revoking driver's licenses, and GPS bracelets. In all legal domains, the effects of these measures on the lives of targeted individuals can be significant, primarily with respect to their capability to guide their own behavior. Some are applied categorically rather than individually, do not involve a fair trial or hearing, or are applied preventively or after the targeted individual has completed a prison sentence. My aim in this article is to extend our view from prison as the quintessential method of depriving individuals of their liberty to control of individuals without locking them up. I address degrees of individual liberty and inquire into legal protections for individuals who are partially free but deprived of liberty in some areas of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on several years of experience in teaching human rights history to undergraduate students in Canada, this article reflects on the challenges involved in imparting knowledge on this subject in a settler colonial context. It builds on examples gleaned from working with undergraduate students, from scholarship on the history of settler colonialism, as well as from Indigenous worldviews and epistemologies, to consider the ways in which the teaching of human rights history needs to evolve alongside and in dialogue with contemporary discussions about rights and justice. The article contends that given contemporary discussions around rights, which reveal the fragility of the liberal human rights framework, this is urgent and necessary work. It concludes by offerings ways of approaching student experiences, insider/outsider dynamics, and contemporary debates when teaching human rights history. The overall purpose of the article is to resituate the teaching of human rights history in a critical, self-reflective manner. In this way, the damaging implications of certain progress-oriented historical narratives centering on the idea and evolution of human rights can also be considered in pedagogical practices on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the promise to address socioeconomic injustices and unemployment, these issues remain in political and public debates in 'democratizing' Tunisia without having no radical and systematic approach to resolving them in place. The existing literature notes that Tunisia's 'transition to democracy' has been largely shaped by the old neoliberal approach, leading many youths to take to the street again. This article contributes to the literature and more broadly to the study of resistance in neoliberal times by exploring the relationship between the post-2011 transitional justice regime's governing through rights and justice and the Mafrouzeen Amniya Movement, which consists of a group of unemployed protesters who claim that their right to work was violated by the state as a result of their protests against the authoritarian regime. Drawing on critical approaches to neoliberalism, human rights and social movements, I argue that transitional justice in Tunisia partly served neoliberal governing by marginalizing revolutionary demands for structural changes and social justice and promoting individualized forms of human rights. Crucially, the neoliberal function of transitional justice was not a top-down process but was constituted through a form of social movement whose dominant liberal human rights discourse was (re)produced by the state as well as by grass-roots movements including the Mafrouzeen Amniya group. In arguing this, rather than present unemployed protesters as being co-opted and subordinated to the state, this article offers a nuanced understanding of how they can reproduce and at the same time challenge the neoliberal transitional justice movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right to fair trial under Article 6.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights has significant bearing on arbitration. Under the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, an arbitral tribunal is a 'tribunal' within the meaning of Article 6.1. The rights recognised by Article 6.1 are subject to partial or full waivers in the context of arbitration, depending on its nature being voluntary or mandatory. To satisfy their Convention obligations, contracting States must exercise effective supervisory jurisdiction in arbitration matters. This may be in conflict with the practice in some contracting States of allowing private parties to contract out the rights to seek the setting aside of arbitral awards or enforce awards that have already been set aside. A survey of all Convention cases between 1955 and 2021 in this regard discloses an overall picture of how the Convention applies to arbitration matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobilization for transitional justice typically "deals with the past," focusing on retrospective attempts to deal with injustices. Little attention has been afforded to such mobilization when prospects for transition and justice are remote. The Syrian diaspora persistently mobilizes for what we call prospective transitional justice despite unfavorable circumstances. This article asks why. First, they have a sense of moral obligation to do so. Second, framing claims in terms of transitional justice and human rights is perceived as the best strategy to transform Syrian society. Third, transitional justice discourse is an avenue through which diaspora organizations secure institutional survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fitness to stand trial (equivalent to competency to stand trial) requires that defendants have a basic understanding of the purpose of the trial and the trial procedures. Little is known, however, about what constitutes a basic factual understanding of the matters. This study developed a legal knowledge survey in which participants were asked to define legal concepts and respond to legal scenarios. They then rated the importance of each component of the fitness to stand trial test to achieving a fair trial. Participants (N = 393; females 69.7%) aged between 18 and 66-years (M = 31.26-years, SD = 11.48-years) from each Australian state and territory completed the online survey. Legal knowledge was high (86.5% correct) and there was no difference between participants on any clinical (e.g., current or past mental illness, neurological conditions), criminological (e.g., criminal history), or demographic variable (e.g., gender, employment, education), except age (curvilinear R2 =.12). Participants under 30-years old used significantly more Americanisms on difficult items compared with participants over 30-years old. On average, participants rated almost every component of the legal test as "extremely important" to a fair trial. The legal knowledge survey had good psychometric properties (Cronbach's α =.86, interrater reliability ĸ >.80 on most variables, single solution factor analysis). Overall, the results support the presumption underpinning the Australian test for fitness, which is that people possess a basic factual understanding of a trial and trial procedures. Further research should focus on testing knowledge in special populations (e.g., mental illness, dementia, intellectual disability). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How and in what ways do 'marginalized' actors influence global environmental governance? Through a collaborative event ethnography of the Paris Climate Summit (COP21), we examine power as it emerges through interactions between actors, institutions, and spaces, focusing on Indigenous Peoples' engagement at the international treaty negotiations. The findings show how Indigenous Peoples generate new meanings and avenues for their pursuits of justice by contesting the production of various forms of rights. In doing so, Indigenous delegates situate power through the politics of representation, carving out distinct political roles in international arenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing has become a political problem in the vast majority of cities around the world, highlighting obvious injustices. The article pursues the question to what extent the existing human right to housing can be of any interest here. The practice-based approach of Charles Beitz can help against the background of some systematic supplements. A 'negative' approach that distinguishes forms of injustice is an important prerequisite for a substantial use of human rights. The negative approach makes it possible to uncover injustices and shows the obstacles that stand in the way of a practice-based conception of human rights. The practice-based conception is, at the same time, necessary for the social analysis of the obstacles, in order to analyse human rights as well as to be able to justify human rights themselves. The current commodification of housing it is argued impedes the exercise of a practice-based conception of human rights in the way that Charles Beitz has suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though approximately 97% of criminal offences are finalised in the summary jurisdiction, the High Court has only considered the nature of summary jurisdiction once: in 1930 in Munday v Gill. In that case, Isaacs CJ and Dixon J provided different characterisations of the summary jurisdiction. According to Dixon J, in the majority, in the summary jurisdiction efficiency may be prioritised over strict adherence to common law protections of the accused because it deals with minor criminal matters that are between subject and subject. In dissent, Isaacs CJ characterised summary criminal matters as between the Crown and subject, arguing that common law protections are as important in the summary jurisdiction as in the higher courts. Dixon J's judgment is still cited as an accurate characterisation of the summary jurisdiction today, and yet the summary jurisdiction has transformed in the nine decades that have elapsed since the case was decided. This is reason to think Munday v Gill should be revisited. This article offers a critical analysis of the case by placing it in its social and historical context, showing that Isaacs CJ's characterisation is more relevant today than that of Dixon J. It makes the case that because of this transformation, it is necessary to re-think the nature of a fair trial in the summary jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What impact did the Oslo Accords have on the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel? With no avenue for expressing their views inside Israel, and with no recognition in Oslo, the minority responded by reconceptualizing its politics, campaigning for equal rights as a national indigenous minority. Oslo has led to a dual process: it has accelerated the 'localization' of their struggle, focusing on minority rights and justice within Israel—while simultaneously openly supporting the wider Palestinian struggle for national rights and self-determination and a two-state solution. As a reaction to the Oslo Accords, there has also been a 'localization' of Arab citizens' voting patterns in favour of Arab parties, such as the Joint List, rather than the Zionist parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian States and Territories continue to reform criminal procedure to provide assistance to vulnerable witnesses in an attempt to ensure they provide the best possible evidence. In response to the 2017 recommendations by the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's Criminal Justice Report, there has been a consistent move towards provision of witness intermediaries. Provision exists for such assistance in every State and Territory except the Northern Territory. Tasmania and Queensland have introduced such assistance most recently (in March and July 2021, respectively). So far only two jurisdictions – the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia – make any provision for intermediary assistance for vulnerable defendants. This article argues that because of the over-representation of mental health disorder and cognitive disability in the criminal justice system, and the impact this may have on the ability for defendants to be tried in a human-rights consistent manner (including the risk of wrongful conviction), intermediary assistance should also be available to defendants nationally. The experience of selected countries that already provide intermediary assistance to defendants (United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and New Zealand) will be outlined to assist with such reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pluralism has been recognised by the European Court of Human Rights as a guiding principle for the interpretation and application of the European Convention on Human Rights, being inseparably linked to the ideals of democracy and human rights. Legal pluralism, however, is a distinct and unendorsed system which may raise concerns in relation to the respect of a number of rights enshrined in the Convention and the Constitutions of the member states of the Council of Europe. This paper studies the human rights implications that occur from the adoption of concurrent Sharia jurisdictions, as manifestations of legal pluralism, applied informally and formally in the UK and Greece respectively, in the area of family law. It particularly explores the incompatibility of those jurisdictions with the right to fair trial, as established in Article 6 of the ECHR and interpreted by the Court. It concludes by calling for an absolute ban to parallel Sharia jurisdictions across the members of the Council of Europe, which, as seen in the light of the Court's case law, clearly contravene Convention rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper scrutinises the applicability of anti-doping legal regime as adjudicated in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). It argues that the existing provisions dealing with 'non-analytical positive doping' in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code are arbitrary and violate the principles of natural justice. While determining 'non-analytical positive doping violation', the anti-doping organisations are not required to prove the athlete's guilt because, under the existing WADA Code, this guilt is presumed regardless of the type of violation. The right to a fair trial is the most fundamental aspect of rule of law meant for the protection of human rights. This paper seeks to examine whether fair trial guarantees are available to the athletes when they are brought for trial before the CAS and National Anti-Doping Organisations. In such cases, CAS panel has evolved a presumption in favour of WADA. The WADA provisions result in a violation of the athlete's right to a fair trial. The study reveals the existing structural defects of CAS and shortcomings of the WADA Code and issues related to the violation of right to a fair trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romania's criminal prosecution of corruption is a controversial topic. While advocates praise the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) for its increasing results, critics voice concerns over the abusive and excessive manner how the fight against corruption is conducted. Is Romania's anti-corruption battle an impressive success or rather a worrisome excess? The article aims to resolve this controversy by assessing anti-corruption activity conceptually and empirically. First, an evaluation scheme of anti-corruption activity – the anti-corruption evaluation chain – is developed, which distinguishes between three stages: 1. Input (capacity), 2. Process (fairness, reasonableness) and 3. Output (results). Second, each dimension is measured empirically by relying on a new set of quantitative indicators and qualitative empirical evidence (e.g. analysis of ECHR judgments, interviews with magistrates). The findings indicate that Romania's fight against corruption has resulted in the augmentation of capacity (e.g. human and financial resources), the acceleration of results (e.g. increasing number of indicted, prosecuted and convicted persons) and aberration from the principles of fair trial and reasonableness, i.e. proportionality. Overall, Romania's criminal prosecution of corruption has derailed into an over-zealous struggle for a 'noble cause' which itself has violated individual rights, the principles of fairness and proportionality, procedural integrity and the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay sheds light on the role of constitutional courts in transitional justice, focusing on their role in mitigating the conflicts between transitional justice and international human rights commitments. Through a study of the Czech Constitutional Court's case law, we demonstrate that international human rights work both as a constraint and a tool. Constitutional courts use international human rights law selectively, when it suits their reasoning and views on transition. Nevertheless, the influence of international human rights law strengthens over time, especially when supported by the adverse rulings of international bodies, and gradually prevails over transitional justice justifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Naming conventions (e.g. Polonia Society, IWO on p. 274 and United Public Workers, CIO on p. 230) suggest highly similar organizing between the IWO and CIO. 'Imagine ... ' invites Professor Robert M. Zecker as he begins ' I A Road to Peace and Freedom i '. IWO leader Max Bedacht delivered orders for my grandfather Whittaker Chambers to join the Soviet underground in 1932. IWO members were the "most effective organizers for the CIO" (p. 2). [Extracted from the article]

As a new debt crisis is hitting the global South, aggravated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and economies will face growing difficulties and challenges to deal with climate emergencies, adaptation, and mitigation. As we have seen in the past, debt crises tend to have a negative impact on women's rights and gender equality, mainly through the implementation of austerity measures. Additionally, the climate emergency also has specific negative impacts on women's rights and gender justice. The article explores the cumulative impacts on women of debt and austerity dynamics on one side, and climate crisis on the other. Also it proposes responses to the economic, social, and environmental crisis we are living, that address both debt and climate risks in a comprehensive, systemic, and feminist approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents judicial perspectives on the relevance of Gross National Happiness (GNH) to the judiciary and its ideological significance in the specific context of ensuring fair trials to self-represented criminal defendants (SRCDs) and administering (criminal) justice in Bhutan. The article draws on the findings from semi-structured qualitative interviews with 16 Bhutanese Justices and Judges around the country. The findings suggest that GNH is judicially perceived as a legislated responsibility of the judiciary and an integral aspect of and highly influential on administering fair criminal justice to SRCDs in Bhutan. In practice, GNH as part of the judicial process can inspire a more humane and holistic approach to administering justice, contributing to fairer trials and more satisfied litigants, as well as more happiness in the justice sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the crackdown following the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016, the Turkish government persecuted hundreds of thousands of people, and much damage has continued to afflict Turkish civil, legal and political life. Many intellectuals have been arrested, tortured, victimised, jailed, and have been subjected to practices that contravene international law. Some of them were able to flee the country and settled in Europe, Canada, and the United States. This study used a narrative synthesis of qualitative design. By analysing the critical life stories of those who have fled, this article provides a narrative, in-depth exploration of their experiences in the Turkish turmoil. A purposive sample of 15 Turkish intellectuals was utilised, and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews from December 2018 to June 2019. Two main themes emerged: torture and right to a fair trial. The results of this study showed the depths of the persecution, torture, and humiliation that the men, women, and children who were detained and jailed endured. The results also showed the most violated human rights were torture, some of which resulted in deaths in custody and the absence of a fair trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of the Uganda Judicature (Visual-Audio Link) Rules does not contextualise the complete protection of an accused's right to a fair trial during emergencies. A contextualisation of the right to a fair trial in international law and under Uganda's domestic law is done. An evaluation of the application of the Visual-Audio Rules in the context of its objectives and circumstances follows. The contribution proposes an accused-centred approach in the application of the Visual-Audio Rules. A conclusion and recommendations follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A close textual study of Israeli and Palestinian speeches at the annual UN General Debate from 1998 to 2016 demonstrates how conflict is embedded in historical presentations. At the same time, the exclusionary, zero-sum history in these UN speeches becomes one of several obstacles for moving from conflict to conflict resolution. Conflict and history's public manifestations are mutually reinforcing. From a thematic perspective, Israeli leaders talk about victimization, existential insecurity, and ancient Jewish roots. Palestinian leaders covered a similar range: the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948, existential insecurity, and right and justice. While neither party directly delegitimizes the other's nationalism at the United Nations, both sides trumpet their own commitment to peace and the other's peace failings. From a symbolic perspective, the article addresses the numerical base of Palestinian speeches, UN Resolutions 181 and 194, and Arab–Israeli Wars in 1948 and 1967, and how they relate to land and demographic disputes. In conclusion, the article suggests how a conciliatory history that opens the door to conflict resolution, or itself is a sign that the door has been opened, might read. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings together case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, for purposes of assessing the extent to which pluralism underpins decisions involving religious manifestation in the form of the Christian cross, on the one hand, and the Islamic veil on the other. The discussion of the jurisprudence reflects that the two Courts have not set adequate benchmarks of protection for religious minorities and have not conceptualised themselves as key players to fight the growing Islamoprejudice marking a plethora of European realms. Instead, they have either reiterated negative narratives or hidden behind the acceptable shield of neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will outline the planning, processes, challenges and successes of a unique teaching and training program for over 1000 recruits to the Irish Prison Service (IPS), which initially took place in the Republic of Ireland between 2008 and 2013. The program was a transformative one, with a pedagogy aimed at developing Recruit Prison Officers' (RPOs) understanding of prisoner's rights within a justice framework. In fact, Human Rights was one of the subjects taught to officers on the program. The program is known as the Higher Certificate in Custodial Care (HCCC). This program combined the expertise of academics from that nation's Universities and the Irish Institute of Technology sector with the traditional training approaches of the Chief Officers of the IPS. This combination of academic and practical teaching and training and mentoring was intended to broaden the scope of knowledge and competency and professional integrity of recruits to Ireland's national prison service. The article will chart the development and implementation of this innovative educational and training program, from planning to implementation. IPS: Irish Prison Service; Cos: Chief Officers; ACOs: Assistant Chief Officers; RPOs: Recruit Prison Officers; IT: Institute of Technology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2017, China has endorsed a policy of promoting full-coverage legal representation for all individuals facing criminal charges. This article is the first study which examines the nature, manifestation and substance of this lawyering project through the lens of a comparative analysis across the Australian and Chinese models of criminal defence. We argue that China's call for counsel to appear in every criminal case will only amount to a mere procedural formality as a result of the limited ability of defence counsels to provide meaningful legal assistance, along with the restraints placed on legal defence in China's criminal justice system. While Australia has sought to guarantee adequate legal representation under the rubric of the right to a fair trial, two pivotal issues have undermined the quality and effectiveness of criminal legal representation in China. Specifically, our analysis focuses on the challenges of counsel incompetence and the institutional dynamics of Chinese criminal proceedings that inhibit the work of defence lawyers. One innovative aim of this article is to uncover the shortcomings predominantly in China, but also in Australia to an extent, and to promote the right to genuine legal representation within the context of a common narrative of securing procedural safeguards for criminal defendants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the legal framework for the grant and exercise of the right to self-representation in criminal proceedings in Ghana, using a doctrinal research approach. It finds that the exaltation of the value of autonomy of the right above considerations of procedural equality and trial fairness affects the integrity of the trial process. More importantly, the legal system in Ghana provides little or no standards setting the modalities of the exercise or revocation of the right. This article recommends a departure from the general standard of proceeding pro se which pays no regard to the competency of the accused person in favour of an adoption of a competency-based approach in order to guarantee an effective exercise of the right to self-representation. It also suggests the formulation and adoption of efficient standards in line with international law for the purpose of delimiting the scope of revocation of the right in criminal proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of stock theft has been high in Botswana, as it is elsewhere in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In 1996, the problem compelled the country's parliament to intervene and enact the Stock Theft Act. After 22 years of its being in operation, however, there is little evidence to suggest that the Act's harsh penalties have led to a reduction in cattle theft. A more serious problem with the law is that its penalties are imposed by customary courts with scarcely any safeguards in place to ensure that justice is done. Arguably, justice is sacrificed at the altar of expediency in response to widespread popular revulsion against cattle thieves. This paper engages with the problem of cattle theft, examining what motivated the adoption of such a harsh law and what the implications are of granting customary courts the jurisdiction to deal with these matters. While there is an urgent need to repeal the Act, in the meantime it should be applied strictly, with all presiding officers of customary courts being required, at the beginning of every stock-theft proceeding, to inform the accused that he or she has a right to opt for a trial before a Magistrates' court. This is one of the few safeguards provided for by the Act, but because it is ignored so often, many people end up in prison when they might have been acquitted had they been tried by the better-equipped Magistrates' courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legitimacy of any justice system depends on the belief or perception that it operates fairly and without prejudice against any person whose interests it serves. Previous research has shown that in the Kyrgyz Republic the fair trial rights, for the most part, protected during the trial stage of the criminal justice process. The same cannot be said when it comes to implementing those rights during the pretrial stages of the process. Based on the results of 165 surveys and 10 in-depth post-survey interviews of Kyrgyz judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, members of various law enforcement bodies, NGOs, and of the public, there is a marked lack of trust in the Kyrgyz criminal justice system within the general public and within the system itself. Actual practices differ from the internationally recognized standards reflected in the country's laws and to a certain degree reflect the legacy of the Soviet criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work brings analytical clarity and original insights to the much-debated questions of whether and how to include violations of economic and social rights (ESRs) within the mandate of several widely used transitional justice mechanisms. First, it provides a nuanced and comprehensive framework of analysis to examine whether the inclusion of large-scale ESR violations within the powers of the studied mechanisms is in conformity with the functions they have had traditionally. Second, by analyzing the implementation of this analytical framework with respect to the power to adjudicate and provide reparations for large-scale ESR violations, it sheds new light on important aspects of these questions. It demonstrates that exercising the two mentioned powers by the analyzed mechanisms with respect to large-scale ESR violations is mostly in conformity with the functions these mechanisms have had traditionally. It also shows that most of the challenges that including these violations within the two studied powers would pose to the institutional competence and democratic legitimacy of the examined mechanisms are because these are large-scale abuses, not that they are ESR violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how theatre, particularly forum theatre, may be used as a means of testing new legislation. This article documents a workshop involving a theatricalised bilingual Tribunal and uses this as a case study of how theatre may be used to explore the implications of new legislation in order to gain an understanding of its potential problems and weaknesses. The article concludes by exploring other ways in which theatre may be used to explore new legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of culturally driven growth, urban identities are of central importance for the branding of cities. However, urban identities are under constant re-negotiation as cities' populations become more diverse. In northern Scandinavia, some cities have developed on what were traditionally Indigenous lands but have failed to acknowledge the role these roots and histories have played in shaping the city's identity. As the numbers of Indigenous people living in cities grow and they begin to assert their right to the city, the relationship between a city's 'majority population' identity and its 'Indigenous' identity may become contested. Looking at the northern Scandinavian cities of Tromsø (Norway) and Umeå (Sweden), we study the conflicts that have arisen around the cities' place identity. In Tromsø, the conflicts concerned joining the Sámi Administration Area. Whereas, in Umeå, the Sámi identity of the city was contested in relation to the inauguration of Umeå as European Capital of Culture 2014. Drawing on theories of place identity, social justice and the right to the city and analysing representations of place identity in the local media and public fora, we discuss the importance of change and reproduction of urban identities and power relations in the two cities. We conclude that contestation can open up space for change and challenge the city's dominant power relations, encouraging a resurgent politics of recognition of Indigenous identities rather than a conciliatory form of settler-state recognition that (re)produces and maintains colonial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of human rights have come to play a material role in UK extradition law. An exception is that found in article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 protecting the right to a fair trial. It plays only a partial and limited role. That role has experienced contrasting fortunes. Whilst the right has come to have a degree of applicability within the UK in extradition hearings its extraterritorial operation has been further restricted. This article analyses the limited role of the right to a fair trial in extradition and highlights that contrasting evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses the issues involving the use of victims' testimonies in transitional justice procedures. Also cited are the concept of the right to speak as pointed out by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power in her 2014 United Nations (UN) Security Council speech, the right to truth and right to justice as promoted by the UN, and the frames that were being adopted in human rights advocacy and scholarship.

Ecuador is a country with several normative systems coexisting within the same territory. Having a multiplicity of systems facilitates the clashes of jurisdiction among them. This contribution studies the applicable rules Ecuador has to allocate jurisdiction among different legal systems, and how these rules advance or halt human rights. One particular way the country deals with conflicting jurisdictions is the request to relinquish jurisdiction that indigenous authorities may submit to ordinary courts if the former believe that the latter have no jurisdiction to hear a case. The decisions of ordinary courts on the request to relinquish jurisdiction will be analysed, as well as the impressions and opinions on the matter from academics, ordinary judges and prosecutors, indigenous authorities, activists and lawyers, all of them collected during three field research trips conducted in the country. The paper concludes by arguing that jurisdiction has a human rights impact. Every person has the right to be heard by a competent court, and barring that person from his/her natural judge is a fair trial violation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including constitutional questions in the realm of social media, the effectiveness of international social media campaigns, and the rights of social networks and their users to a fair trial, privacy and freedom of expression.

When insolvency proceedings have been opened in one EU Member State, then the European Insolvency Regulation applies and the applicable law is the law of the State of the opening (lex fori concursus). Courts of the State of the opening are also competent to hear and decide actio pauliana (avoidance actions) and apply the lex fori concursus. However, if the defendant provides proof that the normally applicable law (lex causae) does not allow any means of challenging that act in the relevant case ("veto"), then the lex fori concursus is excluded. The main question in this article is what kind of decision the court makes after a successful veto of the defendant and whether the decision has the normal effect of finality (res judicata). If the investigation of the lex causae is thorough enough from the point of a fair trial, then the res judicata effect should be normal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a recognition of five tiers of criminal justice reflecting five degrees of limitation on fair trial rights instead of the traditional notion of two tiers of indictable and summary processes in England and Wales. Over the last 15 years, the radical transformation of summary criminal processes has challenged the idea of ‘two tiers of justice’. Such measures as preventive orders, out-of-court disposals and regulatory offences process, which are characterised by higher levels of restriction on due process rights in comparison with the traditional summary process in Magistrates’ Court, should be considered new tiers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Correctly determining witness credibility is integral to a fair trial. Assessments of credibility made by the triers of fact are made, amongst other things, by reference to behavioural stereotypes that are commonly thought to be associated with lying and truth-telling. These stereotypes are worthless but pervasive. In this study, potential jurors were given information such as would be given by way of judicial direction and/or expert testimony on those behavioural indicia that are useful in detecting deception. Major changes in perceptions of what does and does not work were found. This has significant implications for the conduct of criminal trials. Recommendations are presented which, it is argued, can be of real, practical, assistance in enabling decision-makers to assess the credibility of witnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a notorious case in 1994, Ireland saw a 'tsunami' of allegations of historical child abuse. As well as undermining the Catholic Church in Ireland, this has also posed grave problems for the legal system. On the one hand, there was an enormous, strongly articulated demand for prosecutions for such offences. On the other hand, the prosecution after periods of up to 54 years - often of old or very old defendants some of whom had cognitive or other problems - was difficult to reconcile with Ireland's elaborate requirements for fair procedures, including the right to an expeditious trial. It became usual for defendants confronted with these very old allegations to seek prohibition in the superior courts against what they said were manifestly unfair trials. The tension between the felt need to prosecute and the legal necessity to ensure fair trials troubled the Irish courts and especially divided the Supreme Court of Ireland. This commentary examines some of the key case law, including the landmark 1998 judgment in PC v Director of Public Prosecutions, in which the Supreme Court controversially mandated an assumption in such cases that the complainant's account was true (contrary to the presumption of innocence), and the 2008 decision in SH v Director of Public Prosecutions that introduced a single, prejudice-focused test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, Japan has seen a sharp increase in the number of non-Japanese-speaking background defendants in criminal trials. This has posed a major challenge to the Japanese justice system, which must ensure non-Japanese defendants’ rights to receive a fair trial in a language that they are able to understand and use fluently and accurately. Drawing on the author’s fieldwork in Japanese criminal courts and close linguistic analysis of actual court exchanges, contextualised with reference to the existing literature on court interpreting in Japan, I first discuss the issues of access to and quality of court interpreting which may have an impact on the language rights of non-Japanese defendants. Through this discussion I explore what sociolinguists can offer the judiciary in order to raise awareness of language rights. I argue that understanding the language ideologies that have an adverse impact on the non-Japanese-background defendant’s language rights in the bilingual courtroom can contribute to policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the abolition of the exequatur procedure in the European Union (EU) under the Brussels I Regulation as of April 2013, focusing on international civil procedure, the Council of EU Justice Ministers, and the enforceability of judgments in Member States of the EU. The European Parliament and judicial co-operation in civil matters are mentioned, long with court settlements and the right to a fair trial. Defamation lawsuits are examined in relation to the exequatur procedure.

The criminal defence lawyer has been an integral component of adversarial criminal justice in England and Wales for nearly three centuries. However, over the last two decades this essential role has changed substantially, affected by a changing culture in the law and procedure governing criminal justice in this jurisdiction. This article argues that the criminal defence role has been pulled away from its traditional adversarial roots through a process of subtle and gradual change, pursued by the Government and the Judiciary. The article outlines a normative framework, entitled the ‘zealous advocate’ model, describing the ‘traditional’ role of the criminal defence lawyer; discusses ethical conflict and its growing significance; and examines how legislation, case law and funding have gradually moved the defence lawyer away from a ‘client-first’ style of representation. It concludes by considering the potentially significant implications of such a change in the role for both fair trial rights and adversarialism in England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the legal issues examined in the "The Porcupine," by Julian Barnes related to transitional justice. It reports that the novel discusses the need of transitional justice against criminal trials in transitional states of infancy. It informs that the novel can help unacknowledged victims, which the vindications of the old regime transitional justice seek to discredit.