Fairness in International Criminal Trials

Yvonne McDermott

Oxford Monographs in International Humanitarian & Criminal Law

Explores the theoretical concept of fairness and its relationship to international criminal procedure
Provides recommendations for the future development of international criminal procedure
Examines the interplay between domestic and international jurisdictions on fair trial matters
Analyses in detail the standards of due process embraced by the ICC, the ICTY, the ICTR, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone and their legacies
Discusses the jurisprudence on the procedural rights of the Prosecutor and other actors

Fairness in International Criminal Trials

Yvonne McDermott

Oxford Monographs in International Humanitarian & Criminal Law

Description

With the acceptance of international criminal procedure as a self-sustaining discipline and as the tribunals established to try the most serious crimes in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda have completed or are beginning to wind up their activities, the time is ripe for a critical evaluation of these international criminal tribunals and their legacy. By examining the due process standards embraced by the five contemporary international criminal tribunals, the author draws conclusions about how the right to a fair trial should be interpreted in international criminal law.

This volume addresses key conceptual questions on fairness, including: should international criminal tribunals set the highest standards of fairness, or is it sufficient for their practice to be 'just fair enough'? To whom does the right to a fair trial attach, and can actors such as the prosecution and victims be accurately said to benefit from that right? Does fairness require the full realization of a number of guarantees owed to the accused under the statutory frameworks of international criminal tribunals, or should we instead be concerned with the fairness of the trial 'as a whole'? What is the interplay between domestic and international courts on questions of procedural fairness? What are the elements of fairness in international criminal proceedings? And what remedies are available for breaches of fair trial rights?

Through an in-depth exploration of the right to a fair trial, the author concludes that international criminal tribunals have a role in setting the highest standards of due process protection in their procedures, and that in so doing, they can have a positive impact on domestic justice systems.

Fairness in International Criminal Trials

Yvonne McDermott

Oxford Monographs in International Humanitarian & Criminal Law

1: Introduction
2: Interpreting Fairness in International Criminal Trials
3: The Right to a Fair Trial in Practice in International Criminal Trials
4: Procedural Actors and the Right to a Fair Trial
5: Setting the Highest Standards of Fairness, or 'Just Fair Enough'?
6: The Interplay between Domestic and International Jurisdictions on Fair Trial Matters
7: Conclusion

Fairness in International Criminal Trials

Yvonne McDermott

Oxford Monographs in International Humanitarian & Criminal Law

Author Information

Yvonne McDermott, Senior Lecturer in Law, Bangor University

Yvonne McDermott is Senior Lecturer in Law at Bangor University, Wales, where she is also Co-Director of the Bangor Centre for International Law.

Fairness in International Criminal Trials

Yvonne McDermott

Oxford Monographs in International Humanitarian & Criminal Law

Reviews and Awards

"Fairness in International Criminal Trials is essential reading for students of international criminal law as well as practitioners before international criminal tribunals. With an excellent balance between general analysis and a more technical study, this book speaks to the specialists of the field, and to all those who seek to understand how international criminal justice works, what the limits of this system are, and how the judges of international criminal tribunals can guarantee the prosecution of heinous crimes maintaining the highest standards of fairness." - Ilaria Zavoli, Leiden Journal of International Law

"Fairness in International Criminal Trials expounds, in a concrete and thorough manner, on the content of the standard of fairness that the international criminal trials ought to espouse." - Gaiane Nuridzhanian, Journal of International Criminal Justice

"This book is essential reading for students of international criminal law and those with a broader interest in fair trial rights, and I have no doubt that it will be an important reference work for practitioners and judges in international criminal tribunals for many years to come." - From the foreword by Judge Christine Van den Wyngaet, International Criminal Court

"A comprehensive and fascinating assessment of the jurisprudence emerging from the international criminal tribunals. The author's analysis of when a trial should be regarded as unfair is particularly valuable." - Joshua Rozenberg QC, Presenter, Law in Action (BBC Radio 4)