Pretrial Rights International

an rights abuses, advocate for state compliance with international human rights obligations for pretrial detainees, and educate the international community on human rights and basic civil liberties afforded to the persons in pretrial detention around the world. allows us to focus particular attention on supporting and advocating for Americans unjustly detained abroad, serving as a legal resource for them and their families. Pretrial Rights International is a non-profit, nonpartisan U.S.-based organization that is committed to the presumption of the innocence of detainees until proven guilty. The concept of “innocent until proven guilty” is good rhetoric, but it is often not put to practice. Far too often governments, societies, and even human rights NGOs overlook the human rights of pretrial detainees. They fear standing up for a person who may later be found guilty of crimes such as murder, r**e, theft, or money laundering. This fear has allowed the problem to get out of hand: Too many detainees’ rights are overlooked well beyond minimum standards, resulting in many clear human rights violations. Russia provides a startling example. The European Court of Human Rights alone has received hundreds of complaints of unnecessarily prolonged pretrial detention periods. Last year, Russia was responsible for the death of attorney Sergei Magnitsky, who died after spending 11 months in prison without trial. Many pretrial detention periods are far longer than 11 months, with some detainees held in Russia without trial for over four years. Prolonged pretrial detention often violates domestic laws, but the detainees are without knowledge or assistance to pursue their legal rights. Such pretrial detention also implicates international law that guarantees trial within a reasonable time after detention, freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention, and innocence until proven guilty. Again, these guarantees often seem elusive to pretrial detainees. Included among the international law and guidelines that aim to prevent excessive pretrial detention are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the OSCE Copenhagen Document, and the draft European Prisons Charter. Even with these instruments, there seem to be few clear standards for assessing the human rights violations arising from excessive pretrial detention. How long is too long? What are the remedies for excessive pretrial detention? Must a state set a time limit on how long it can hold an accused without trial? NGOs are reluctant to advocate for pretrial detainees because those detainees are often charged with violent or shameful crimes. They are afraid to define standards and stand up for individuals who have not yet been tried, for fear they may be assisting the guilty. But human rights apply equally to those guilty or not. We wish to establish an NGO that stands up for pretrial detention rights and recognizes without regard to race, nationality, gender, or other characteristics the basic fundamental rights that are often glossed over when it comes to criminal detainees. How this will be accomplished is still in development. Ultimately, we aim to gather, streamline, and supply the legal information and tools that detainees and their advocates can turn to in asserting and preserving those rights. We see as especially important the development of clear standards for assessing human and civil rights abuses of pretrial detainees. These standards can then be taught to governments and NGOs who often skirt the problem of pretrial detention for lack of definition.