Forum on Minority Issues Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System Legal Framework and Key Concepts Presentation by Ms. Gay McDougall, Member-elect, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Chair, International Council, Minority Rights Group International, Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Leitner Center, Fordham Law School Chairperson, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the international Legal Framework relevant to the Forum’s discussion of racial discrimination in national justice systems, institutions that are granted the enormous power and discretion to criminalize and punish with the imprimatur of the State. In every country, no matter what differences there might be in legal systems and cultural practices, this is awesome power. And, as the Draft Recommendations we have before us states: Regardless of the set of laws of a particular State is applicable for the criminal justice system or the procedure followed (adversarial, inquisitorial or combined), international law requires States to ensure that all individuals within their jurisdiction benefit from a fundamental basis of rights throughout the process: the right to a fair trial by a competent, independent and impartial court established by law, and the right to legal aid; the presumption of innocence; the principle of legality and non-retroactivity of more stringent criminal laws; the principle of double jeopardy; the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the inadmissibility of confessions obtained by torture or the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and the right to liberty and security of person, the prohibition of imprisonment for civil debt, and the due process required to protect these rights. A/HRC/FMI/2015/ The fundamental rights to non-discrimination and to equal treatment are so foundational to the international human rights legal architecture that it is recognized as a peremptory norm of the highest order and it is repeated like a mantra in all human rights treaties, consensus based Declarations and documents that elaborate aspects of human rights soft law. With respect to the duty of non-discrimination in the administration of justice, international law is clear starting with the Universal Declaration, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention Against Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Convention against Torture along with other core treaties and standards. 1 1 See also paragraph 25 of the declaration adopted by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, which expressed “profound repudiation of the racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance that persist in some States in the functioning 1