Persons selected as prosecutors must be individuals of integrity and ability, with appropriate training and qualifications.[1] Accordingly, States must ensure that selection criteria embody safeguards against appointments based on partiality or prejudice, and that prosecutors have appropriate education and training.[2]
Promotion of prosecutors must be based on objective factors and decided upon in accordance with fair and impartial procedures.[3]
Prosecutors must enjoy “[r]easonable conditions of service … adequate remuneration and, where applicable, tenure, pension and age of retirement shall be set out by law or published rules or regulations.”[4]
Under the Constitution, the Prosecutor General and the Deputy Prosecutor General are to be appointed by the National Congress for a four-year, non renewable, term of office.[5] The requirements for candidates for the offices of the Prosecutor General and the Deputy Prosecutor General are the same as candidates for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court; candidates must: be nationals of Honduras by birth; hold citizenship with full enjoyment of civil rights (i.e. not legally incompetent); be at least 35 years of age, and have been a judge, lawyer or teacher at the academic level for a period of at least ten years.[6]
- 1. UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, ”Guideline↵
Persons selected as prosecutors shall be individuals of integrity and ability, with appropriate training and qualifications.
- 2. UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, ”Guideline↵
States shall ensure that:
(a) Selection criteria for prosecutors embody safeguards against appointments based on partiality or prejudice, excluding any discrimination against a person on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, social or ethnic origin, property, birth, economic or other status, except that it shall not be considered discriminatory to require a candidate for prosecutorial office to be a national of the country concerned;
(b) Prosecutors have appropriate education and training and should be made aware of the ideals and ethical duties of their office, of the constitutional and statutory protections for the rights of the suspect and the victim, and of human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by national and international law.
- 3. UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, ”GuidelineInternational Association of Prosecutors Standards of Professional Responsibility and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors, ”Article
Promotion of prosecutors, wherever such a system exists, shall be based on objective factors, in particular professional qualifications, ability, integrity and experience, and decided upon in accordance with fair and impartial procedures.
↵In order to ensure that prosecutors are able to carry out their professional responsibilities independently and in accordance with these standards, prosecutors should be protected against arbitrary action by governments. In general they should be entitled :
…
(e) to recruitment and promotion based on objective factors, and in particular professional qualifications, ability, integrity, performance and experience, and decided upon in accordance with fair and impartial procedures;
- 4. UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, ”GuidelineInternational Association of Prosecutors, Standards of Professional Responsibility and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors, ”Article
Reasonable conditions of service of prosecutors, adequate remuneration and, where applicable, tenure, pension and age of retirement shall be set out by law or published rules or regulations.
↵In order to ensure that prosecutors are able to carry out their professional responsibilities independently and in accordance with these standards, prosecutors should be protected against arbitrary action by governments. In general they should be entitled :
…
(c) to reasonable conditions of service and adequate remuneration, commensurate with the crucial role performed by them and not to have their salaries or other benefits arbitrarily diminished;
(d) to reasonable and regulated tenure, pension and age of retirement subject to conditions of employment or election in particular cases;
- 5. Constitution, Article 229.↵
The attorney general and the deputy attorney general of the republic shall be elected by the National Congress for a term of four years and they may not be reelected for a subsequent period; they must have the same qualifications and shall have the same prerogatives and qualifications as prescribed by this Constitution for justices of the Supreme Court of Justice.
- 6. Constitution, Article 229and 307;
The attorney general and the deputy attorney general of the republic shall be elected by the National Congress for a term of four years and they may not be reelected for a subsequent period; they must have the same qualifications and shall have the same prerogatives and qualifications as prescribed by this Constitution for justices of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Law of the Office of Prosecutor-General, Article 19.↵The law, without diminishing the independence of the judges and magistrates, will provide that necessary for the objective of assuring the correct and normal functioning of the jurisdictional organs, providing the effective means to attend to their functional and administrative necessities, as well as to the organization of the auxiliary services.
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