A/HRC/39/39 IV. Joint commitments on effective criminal justice responses to drug-related crimes and human rights 34. In the outcome document of the thirtieth special session, all States committed to “promote and implement effective criminal justice responses to drug-related crimes to bring perpetrators to justice that ensure legal guarantees and due process safeguards pertaining to criminal justice proceedings, including practical measures to uphold the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention and of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to eliminate impunity … and ensure timely access to legal aid and the right to a fair trial”. A. The right to a fair trial: legal guarantees and due process safeguards 35. The right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial is a key element of human rights protection. Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is aimed at ensuring the proper administration of justice, and to this end guarantees a series of specific rights.59 36. “The right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law”, as set forth in article 14 of the Covenant, is an essential element of the right to a fair trial. The use of legal presumptions in some countries, whereby persons found with amounts of drugs above specified thresholds, or in possession of keys to a building or vehicle where drugs have been found, are presumed to be guilty of drug trafficking, has been condemned as reversing the burden of proof in criminal proceedings, and may amount to a violation of the right to a fair trial. Some States also rely on statements made by suspects during police interrogation without a lawyer present as evidence to convict, even when the defendants argued that those statements were made under coercion. 60 In many cases, foreign nationals charged with drug trafficking abroad were not given fair trials. 61 37. The large volume of drug-related offences for possession and drug use has led States to seek methods to move cases more quickly through the criminal justice system. This has resulted in growth of the use of “trial waiver” systems. In such systems, trials are being replaced by legal regimes that encourage suspects to admit guilt and waive their right to a full trial. 62 Although trial waiver systems do succeed in moving multiple cases through criminal justice systems, the price is often less procedural protection and judicial oversight. 63 Furthermore, the trial waiver system in drug-related cases poses particular challenges, including incentives to use pretrial detention as a bargaining chip to encourage guilty pleas and other trial waivers. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has noted that the growth in the use of trial waivers has eroded procedural protection and access to legal representation.64 B. Prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention 38. A number of submissions highlighted continued issues concerning arbitrary arrest and detention in the context of drug control.50 The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted with concern increasing, and in some cases, systematic, instances of arbitrary detention as a consequence of drug control laws and policies. Arbitrary detention for drug offences or drug use can occur across criminal and administrative settings, particularly 59 60 61 62 63 64 8 See Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 32 (2007) on the right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial. Submission from Amnesty International. Submission from the Justice Project of Pakistan. See www.fairtrials.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Report-The-Disappearing-Trial.pdf. Submission from Fair Trials. See www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/pretrialdetention.pdf.