Extradition Treaties Extradition And Abduction Extradition To

The consensus in international law is that a state does not have any obligation to surrender an alleged criminal to a foreign state, as one principle of sovereignty is that every state has legal authority over the people within its borders. Since there is no such international obligation, but since most countries desire the right to demand such criminals of other countries, a web of extradition treaties has evolved; most countries in the world have signed bilateral extradition treaties with most other countries.

No country in the world has an extradition treaty with all other countries; for example, the United States (US) lacks extradition treaties with over fifty nations, including the People's Republic of China and North Korea.

An extradition treaty spells out the terms of an extradition. It includes a list of crimes for which a person can be extradited, or else covers them all with descriptions such as "any crime for which a prison term could exceed two years". It is usually reciprocal in terms of conditions, but there are exceptions. Generally, an extradition treaty requires that a country seeking extradition be able to show that:

Many countries reserve the right to refuse to extradite an individual if, in the government's opinion, they are being sought for a political crime. Many countries, such as Mexico, CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe and most EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sean nations, will not allow extradition to nations with the capital punishment unless they are assured that the death penalty will not subsequently be imposed. This is controversial in the United States, where the death penalty is practiced, as it is seen by many as an attempt by foreign nations to interfere with the US criminal justiceThe study of criminal justice traditionally revolves around three main components of the criminal justice system police courts corrections Nowadays, it is sometimes argued that psychiatry is also a central part of the criminal justice system. The pursuit system. However, such restrictions are normally clearly spelled out in the extradition treaties that the US government has agreed upon.

In certain countries, such as FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. and GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east, the law bars the government from extraditing anyone who is a citizen of the state. This is reflected in every extradition treaty to which France is a party. Such restrictions are occasionally controversial in other countries when, for example, a French citizen commits a crime abroad and then returns to his home country to avoid prosecution¹. The laws of France and Germany do, however, allow for the trying citizens in their home country for serious crimes committed abroad. The French government will prosecute such a case on the demand of the foreign country in which the crime was allegedly committed.

The usual extradition treaty safeguards relating to double-criminality, presence of prima facie evidence and the possibility of a fair trial have been waived by many European nations for a list of specified offences under the terms of the European Union arrest warrant . The warrant entered into force in eight EU member-states on 1st January, 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co.

2 Extradition and abduction

Issues of international law relating to extradition have proven controversial in cases where a state has abducted and removed an individual from the territory of another state without previously requesting permission, or following normal extradition procedures. Such abductions are usually in violation of the domestic law of the country in which they occur, as infringements of laws forbidding kidnapping. Many also regard abductions as violations of international law--in particular of a prohibition on arbitrary detention.

Controversial cases have included Israel's 1986 abduction of Mordechai Vanunu from Italy, and the 1990 aduction of Alvarez-Machain , a Mexican national accused of murdering a DEA official, from Mexico by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. In 1997 the FBI was accused of abducting Mir Aimal Kasi from Pakistan. He was accused of an attack on a CIA headquarters and was later tried and executed in the United States.

3 Extradition to federations

The federal structure of some nations, such as the United States, can pose particular problems with respect to extraditions. This is because foreign countries do not have official relations with sub-national units such as the individual states composing the US; rather, they have relations with the federal government. This means, for example, that the federal government may, in a particular case, certify to a foreign nation that the death penalty will not be sought, and that if it is pronounced it will not be applied, but some contend that such a commitment is not binding on state courts when the matter is of state jurisdiction. On the other hand, should an individual state decide to execute a person extradicted, the federal government would be in violation of its commitment with respect to foreign nations and to what it has agreed upon by treaty.

Less important problems can arise due to differing qualifications for crimes. For instance, in the United States, transportation across state lines is a prerequisite for certain federal crimes. This transportation clause is, understandably, absent from the laws of many countries. Extradition treaties or subsequent diplomatic correspondence often include language providing that such criteria should not be taken into account when checking if the offense is an offense in the country from where extradition should take place.

4 Footnote

One famous example of the French custom in practice is the case of the director Roman Polanski. Polanski was convicted of statutory rape in the United States in 1977 but fled to France before sentencing. From there, as a French citizen, he cannot be extradited to the United States.

5 Related topics

International law Treaties Law

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