Trial without undue delay: a promise unfulfilled in international criminal courts

Authors

  • Cynthia J. Cline American University, College of Law

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5102/rbpp.v8i1.5159

Keywords:

Trial without undue delay, speedy trial, International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, International Tribunals

Abstract

The right to a trial without undue delay is guaranteed using identical language in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). All three mirror the guarantee in the International Convention for Civil and Political Rights that all persons charged with crimes are entitled "to be tried without undue delay." This paper will examine the reason for a right to a trial without undue delay and its origin in national and international law. It also will show how these national guarantees serve as the basis of the international law guarantee of trial without undue delay and how that guarantee has played out in the international courts. Finally, this paper will examine reasons why the right of trial without undue delay arguably has been ignored and/or violated in the ICTY, the ICTR and the ICC due to long delays in completing the cases.

Author Biography

  • Cynthia J. Cline, American University, College of Law
    Ms. Cline is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and Oklahoma City University School of Law. She currently is a candidate for a masters in law at American University in Washington, D.C. She has been a criminal defense lawyer for more than 20 years and was on the defense teams for Hazim Delic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Prosper Mugiraneza and Tharcisse Muvunyi at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She also is admitted to practice before the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

References

BALKAN TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE. War crimes convicts: hague tribunal was a ‘political court’. Available at: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/war-crimes-convicts-hague-tribunal-was-a-political-court-12-19-2017.

CONSTITUTION SOCIETY. Assize of Clarendon: 1166. Available at: http://www.constitution.org/eng/.

CONSTITUTION SOCIETY. The magna carta: the great charter. Available at: http://www.constitution. org/eng/magnacar.htm.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.

ICTY Manual on Developed Practices, 2009. THE AVALON PROJECT DOCUMENTS IN LAW, HISTORY AND DIPLOMACY. Virginia declaration of rights. Available at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/virginia.asp.

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Published

2018-05-22

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2018): Políticas públicas e boas práticas para o sistema penal

Section

Artigos

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How to Cite

Trial without undue delay: a promise unfulfilled in international criminal courts. (2018). Brazilian Journal of Public Policy, 8(1), 54-88. https://doi.org/10.5102/rbpp.v8i1.5159