Drawing on her own experiences, Kate Gibson, a lawyer specialising in International Criminal Law and International Human Rights Law who has practiced as defence counsel at numerous international courts, discusses the importance of upholding the right to defendants and fair trial standards in terrorism and international crime cases. Kate notes, “The rights of the accused are at the heart of accountability.” Gibson emphasises that that the problem isn’t that actors are unaware about the need for fair trial standards, but in the implementation of relevant standards, especially in cases of terrorism cases. She stresses the importance of a rule of law-centered approach to counter-terrorism, and the need to ensure that defendants retain their presumption of innocence, can access to the evidence against them, and can challenge how they are moved across state borders that lead to their prosecution. Everyone, Gibson stresses, would benefit from stronger fair trial standards being maintained as “we are all in the same game”. Gibson concludes by sharing her thoughts on what she would change to put us on a better footing to achieve justice for international crimes and terrorism in line with the rights of defendants to a fair trial.
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