Topic: Rights of Accused
Country: Australia
Delegate Name: Will Cathcart
School: Kalamazoo Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Australia position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Like many other 1st world nations, Australia protects the rights of its accused citizens quite strictly. The rights the accused have in the nation of Australia are as follows: innocent until proven guilty, the right to remain silent, the right to remain free unless formally arrested, the right to have a recorded interrogation, and the right to conceal past convictions from a trial. These rights are very similar to those of many nations with a similar governmental and political structure to Australia.
With many countries, their rights for the accused are just simply a guideline and are hardly acted upon. In the Nation of Australia the national court system does the best they can to uphold these rights and is often quite successful. However as in any country, even ones that uphold their rights to the fullest, there are some flaws to the system that impede the rights that must be given to the accused. This includes the nation of Australia.
While in the HRC Australia hopes to establish a set of international guidelines to create a set of rights of the accused peoples in the nation they reside in. Australia would also like to see nations that already have already established their rights for the accused uphold these rights to the best of the nation's ability.
When it comes to the interest of the state, if a nation is abusing its accused people the country needs to be reprimanded for such an act. Australia believes that when a nation is abusing its citizens is wrong no matter if they are accused of a crime in the highest degree. Australia believes that no matter who a person is or what a person has done they should be granted at least the most basic of rights that will protect them in a court of law.
The Nation of Australia is looking forward to debating further with the HRC delegation about the issue of giving accused persons the rights they deserve.
