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Article 18
1. Migrant workers and members of their families shall have the right to equality with nationals of the
State concerned before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against
them or of their rights and obligations in a suit of law, they shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing
by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.
2. Migrant workers and members of their families who are charged with a criminal offence shall have
the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law.
3. In the determination of any criminal charge against them, migrant workers and members of their
families shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language they understand of the nature and cause of
the charge against them;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence and to communicate with
counsel of their own choosing;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) To be tried in their presence and to defend themselves in person or through legal assistance of
their own choosing; to be informed, if they do not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have
legal assistance assigned to them, in any case where the interests of justice so require and without
payment by them in any such case if they do not have sufficient means to pay;
(e) To examine or have examined the witnesses against them and to obtain the attendance and
examination of witnesses on their behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against them;
(f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if they cannot understand or speak the language used
in court;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify against themselves or to confess guilt.
4. In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the
desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.
5. Migrant workers and members of their families convicted of a crime shall have the right to their
conviction and sentence being reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.
6. When a migrant worker or a member of his or her family has, by a final decision, been convicted of
a criminal offence and when subsequently his or her conviction has been reversed or he or she has
been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has
been a miscarriage of justice, the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction
shall be compensated according to law, unless it is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact
in time is wholly or partly attributable to that person.
7. No migrant worker or member of his or her family shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an
offence for which he or she has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law
and penal procedure of the State concerned.
Article 19
1. No migrant worker or member of his or her family shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on
account of any act or omission that did not constitute a criminal offence under national or international
law at the time when the criminal offence was committed, nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than
the one that was applicable at the time when it was committed. If, subsequent to the commission of