This august World Assembly,
Believing that crime victims have a right to pursue justice, but convinced that the target resolution creates structural inequities which prevent defendants, who ought to be presumed to be innocent, from obtaining due process,
Concerned that the resolution's mandate of notification ‘in advance of any upcoming critical stage of the prosecution [and] any important developments in the case’ forces governments to disclose to possibly untrustworthy people the contents and existence of court proceedings whose publication could be damaging to national security,
Worried that the resolution’s requirement to permit victims ‘to make a statement on the record, and to have that statement duly heard and considered’ at any stage of the prosecution would violate criminal evidentiary procedures designed to prevent juries from relying on emotional content rather than the facts of the case,
Appalled that there are no restrictions on the contents of this statement, which means it could be used to introduce information which:Troubled that repeated use of these statements can draw out trials to an unreasonable length that stretches a defendant's ability to pay for counsel while also necessarily violating their right to a speedy trial, and
- is irrelevant and personally damaging to the reputation of the defence into the public record,
- was collected without warrant, especially probable given that the victim is likely to have have cooperated with the police services beforehand, or
- blatantly violates a defendant's right to privacy,
Convinced that:Repeals GA 247 “Rights of Crime Victims”.
- member nations can protect the rights of both victims and the accused without the World Assembly directly micromanaging, setting requirements, or imposing restrictions on a nation's customary administration of justice,
- the current resolution imposes costs against justice which cannot simply be ignored on the dogma that every repealed resolution must be replaced, and
- replacement would necessarily create similar structural inequities against criminal defendants; hereby:
