Reports Find Inadequate Protection of Defendants' Rights in the EU

BUDAPEST—The European Union must do more to protect the rights of criminal defendants, according to three recent studies.

The reports found six areas in which adequate guarantees of defendants' procedural rights are lacking:

• Informing suspects and defendants about their procedural rights, including the right to legal assistance and the right to remain silent—as well as the implications of waiving these rights—in writing and in a language that they understand.
• Informing defendants and their counsel about the criminal charge, particularly during the suspect's first interrogation.
• Granting the defense sufficient access to evidence collected by police and prosecution.
• Ensuring defendants receiving legal aid are not at a disadvantage compared to defendants represented by private counsel.
• Guaranteeing that legal representation is available from the early stages of the proceedings, including before and during the suspect's first interrogation.
• Providing high quality, independent interpretation and translation services for defendants who do not understand the language of the proceedings, at no cost for them and to the extent necessary to effectively exercise their rights.

These findings are contained in reports on criminal defense in Belgium, England and Wales, and Hungary, available here.

The findings show the need for legislation to establish a common minimum standard for defendants' procedural rights across the EU. The European Convention of Human Rights protection mechanism is not sufficient to ensure that all European states protect the procedural rights of defendants at an acceptable level. To date, no single legislative instrument has been passed by the EU to protect the rights of defendants.

The reports were presented at a conference, "Towards Effective Criminal Defence in the European Union: An Opening Debate," held at Maastricht University in the Netherlands on November 27-28, 2008. The conference and the reports are part of a joint project of Maastricht University, the University of the West of England, JUSTICE, and the Open Society Justice Initiative. In 2009, similar research will be carried out in Germany, France, Finland, Italy, Poland, and Turkey.