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5 New J. Eur. Crim. L. 2 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/newjecla5 and id is 1 raw text is: EDITORIAL THE HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICER OF THE EUROPEAN CRIMINAL BAR ASSOCIATION SCOTT CROSBY* In the previous two issues of this Journal much has been written about the disregard for human rights in a number of high profile criminal trials in Turkey and about the threat by governmental ministers in the UK to withdraw the UK from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights if not to repudiate the Convention altogether. To that one could add the need for criticism of the publicly stated views of certain senior judges in the United Kingdom which seem to undermine the authority of the Strasbourg Court. Perhaps someone would like to do this. The lode star followed in this context is that binding international human rights standards are essential and for this reason the blatant defiance of these standards by some Convention states and conduct by others which discredits and devaluates these standards must be resisted. This idea - that binding international standards are necessary for all - is not new. In an article of 1993 Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni writes that the international protection of human rights has increased dramatically in the last century 'due in part to the increased recognition that a number of nations share many fundamental legal values (...). One crucial commonality is the acknowledgement that individuals must be protected from certain depredations against their person, and that international laws are needed to protectpeoplefrom policies which ultimately affect the global community'.' That confirms and summarises the recent positions taken in this Journal. The concern of the ECBA in this regard is foreseen in its constitution, Article 3 of which provides inter alia that the objects of the association are 'to promote the administration of justice and human rights under the rule of law within the member states of the Council of Europe and among the peoples of the world'. The ECBA's concern for human rights in the criminal law context is thus global. It extends to international institutions, which include the UN and the EU, since its object is to promote human rights 'among the peoples of the world'. Thus if an international organisation disregards fundamental rights in the criminal law context, the ECBA is constitutionally entitled if not obliged to react. Editor-in-chief, Human Rights Officer of the ECBA, Advocate (Brussels). 1 Bassiouni, Human Rights in the Context of Criminal Justice: identifying international protections and equivalent protections in national constitutions, Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law, 1993 Vol. 3:325. Intersentia 2

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