A/HRC/24/18 and Somalia47 to maintain stringent respect of due process and fair trial guarantees in death penalty cases. 48. National judiciaries also addressed the importance of fair trial standards in death penalty cases. For instance, in one case,48 the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court found that section 52(2) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Act, which sets a strict 14-day limit for filing appeals to the Court in capital cases, violated defendants’ fair trial rights as guaranteed under Section 10 of the Constitution of Saint Kitts and Nevis and article 14 of ICCPR, including adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence. 49. Human rights organizations also reported on trials of capital cases that did not meet the requirements of fair trial. For instance, Amnesty International remained concerned that “in a minority of countries where people were sentenced to death or executed, the death penalty was imposed after proceedings that did not meet international fair trial standards”.49 The Death Penalty Project, in collaboration with the Centre for Prisoners’ Rights, published a report that noted Japan’s failure to meet its requirements under international human rights law, inter alia, in relation to fair trial guarantees.50 The International Federation of Human Rights published a report on the use of the death penalty in the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea in which it noted the systematic denial of the right to a fair trial in death penalty cases.51 C. Access to consular services for foreign nationals 50. Access to consular services is an important aspect of the protection of those foreign nationals facing the death penalty. In its report on “The Death Penalty in the InterAmerican Human Rights System: From Restrictions to Abolition”, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has examined issues related to due process concerning the failure to comply with the notification requirements of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in the execution of foreign nationals in the United States.52 51. In the United States of America, a draft bill entitled ‘‘Consular Notification Compliance Act of 2011’’ is currently being reviewed by Congress. This legislation would provide for the judicial review and reconsideration of claims of foreign nationals sentenced to capital crimes without having received consular notification and access.53 52. The new EU Guidelines on the death penalty state that, when considering whether legal proceedings provide all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial, due attention should be given to whether anyone suspected of or charged with a crime for which capital punishment may be imposed has been informed of the right to contact a consular representative. 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 12 See http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12937&LangID=E. Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, Appeal HCRAP 2008/002, delivered on 21 March 2012. Amnesty International, op. cit., page 10. See http://content.yudu.com/A22nfv/DPP-Japan-Report/. “The Death Penalty in North Korea”, International Federation of Human Rights, May 2013, available at http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/en-report-northkorea-high-resolution.pdf. See http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/pdf/deathpenalty.pdf. See http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1194#.