Abstract

This article provides a practitioner’s view of the extent to which the 1955 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs) have been utilized in Canada. The author reviews how the SMRs are being used by national authorities, civil society organizations and criminal law practitioners in Canada and presents reflections as to how the SMRs could be better utilized to ensure that prisoners’ rights are protected in Canada. The SMRs, which, as revised in 2015, are often referred to as the Nelson Mandela Rules, are not in themselves binding upon states. However, they do carry weight: this is evidenced by the UN human rights bodies which have invoked the SMRs as a minimum universal standard in interpretations of binding international legal standards in their decisions and comments. Furthermore, the SMRs (traditionally classified as ‘soft law’) provide key stakeholders with useful and practical guidelines on all aspects of prisoners’ rights. This article argues that the SMRs are being utilized to a degree in Canada, but that there is room for improvement. Canada is, in general, rather insular in its application of soft law standards. The Canadian courts have ruled, for example, that the SMRs are not binding in the domestic context. Thus, within the context of litigation, compliance with the SMRs is a challenge. Furthermore, a lack of legal literacy and training in prisoners’ rights in general and in the SMRs more specifically is evident in Canada. The author’s view is that legal training on the SMRs for criminal law practitioners and the judiciary would be one significant step towards more effective utilization of the SMRs in Canada.

中文翻译：

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在加拿大实施《联合国囚犯待遇最低限度标准规则》：从业者的视角

摘要

本文提供了从业人员对加拿大1955年《联合国囚犯待遇最低限度标准规则》的使用程度的看法。作者回顾了加拿大国家主管部门，民间社会组织和刑法从业人员如何使用SMR，并对如何更好地利用SMR确保加拿大囚犯权利得到了思考。SMR（在2015年进行了修订）通常被称为《纳尔逊·曼德拉规则》，其本身并不约束各州。但是，它们确实具有分量：联合国人权机构在其决定和评论中援引SMR作为具有约束力的国际法律标准的解释时，将SMR作为最低的普遍标准得到了证明。此外，SMR（传统上被归类为“软法”）为主要利益相关者提供了有关囚犯权利各个方面的有用和实用指南。本文认为，SMR在加拿大已得到一定程度的利用，但仍有改进的空间。总体而言，加拿大在应用软法标准方面相当孤立。例如，加拿大法院裁定，SMR在国内不具有约束力。因此，在诉讼的背景下，遵守SMR是一个挑战。此外，在加拿大，普遍缺乏对囚犯权利的法律素养和培训，尤其是在SMR中，这是明显的。作者的观点是，为加拿大的刑法从业者和司法人员提供有关SMR的法律培训将是朝着更有效地利用SMR迈出的重要一步。