Article 18
1. Migrant workers and members of their families shall have the right to equality with
nationals of the State concerned before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of
any criminal charge against them or of their rights and obligations in a suit of law, they shall
be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal
established by law.
2. Migrant workers and members of their families who are charged with a criminal offence
shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law.
3. In the determination of any criminal charge against them, migrant workers and members
of their families shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language they understand of the nature and
cause of the charge against them;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence and to
communicate with counsel of their own choosing;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) To be tried in their presence and to defend themselves in person or through legal
assistance of their own choosing; to be informed, if they do not have legal assistance, of this
right; and to have legal assistance assigned to them, in any case where the interests of justice
so require and without payment by them in any such case if they do not have sufficient
means to pay;
(e) To examine or have examined the witnesses against them and to obtain the attendance
and examination of witnesses on their behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against
them;
(f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if they cannot understand or speak the
language used in court;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify against themselves or to confess guilt.
4. In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their
age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.
5. Migrant workers and members of their families convicted of a crime shall have the right
to their conviction and sentence being reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.
6. When a migrant worker or a member of his or her family has, by a final decision, been
convicted of a criminal offence and when subsequently his or her conviction has been
reversed or he or she has been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact
shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice, the person who has suffered
punishment as a result of such conviction shall be compensated according to law, unless it
is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is wholly or partly attributable
to that person.
7. No migrant worker or member of his or her family shall be liable to be tried or punished
again for an offence for which he or she has already been finally convicted or acquitted in
accordance with the law and penal procedure of the State concerned.
Article 19
20
1. No migrant worker or member of his or her family shall be held guilty of any criminal
offence on account of any act or omission that did not constitute a criminal offence under
national or international law at the time when the criminal offence was committed, nor
shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time when it was