Language

Commonwealth of Dominica

Dominica - Constitution 1978 (2014) EN

Chapter 1 Fundamental rights and freedoms

Article 3

Protection of right to personal liberty

Any person who is arrested or detained shall be informed as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any case no later than twenty-four hours after such arrest or detention, in a language that he understands, of the reasons for his arrest or detention.

Chapter 1 Fundamental rights and freedoms

Article 8

Provisions to secure protection of law

b. shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in a language that he understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence charged;

Chapter 1 Fundamental rights and freedoms

Article 8

Provisions to secure protection of law

f. shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial,

Rome Statute

Article 50 Official and working languages

1. The official languages of the Court shall be Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The judgements of the Court, as well as other decisions resolving fundamental issues before the Court, shall be published in the official languages. The Presidency shall, in accordance with the criteria established by the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, determine which decisions may be considered as resolving fundamental issues for the purposes of this paragraph.

2. The working languages of the Court shall be English and French. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence shall determine the cases in which other official languages may be used as working languages.

3. At the request of any party to a proceeding or a State allowed to intervene in a proceeding, the Court shall authorize a language other than English or French to be used by such a party or State, provided that the Court considers such authorization to be adequately justified.

Article 55 Rights of persons during an investigation

2. Where there are grounds to believe that a person has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court and that person is about to be questioned either by the Prosecutor, or by national authorities pursuant to a request made under Part 9, that person shall also have the following rights of which he or she shall be informed prior to being questioned:

(c) To have legal assistance of the person's choosing, or, if the person does not have legal assistance, to have legal assistance assigned to him or her, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by the person in any such case if the person does not have sufficient means to pay for it; and

Article 87 Requests for cooperation: general provisions

2. Requests for cooperation and any documents supporting the request shall either be in or be accompanied by a translation into an official language of the requested State or one of the working languages of the Court, in accordance with the choice made by that State upon ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. Subsequent changes to this choice shall be made in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.