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] They must “at all times maintain the honour and dignity of the profession”.[5]
The Constitution of Swaziland establishes the public office of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The King appoints the Director on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission; the DPP must meet the same requirements as a judge of the superior courts.[6]
- 1. UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, ”GuidelinePrinciples and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, Adopted by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Article F(a)(1).
Persons selected as prosecutors shall be individuals of integrity and ability, with appropriate training and qualifications.
↵States shall ensure that:
1. 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, including the Charter
- 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, ”GuidelinePrinciples and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, Adopted by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Article F(c);
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.
International Association of Prosecutors Standards of Professional Responsibility and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors, ”ArticlePromotion 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, ”GuidelinePrinciples and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, Adopted by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Article F(b);
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.
International Association of Prosecutors, Standards of Professional Responsibility and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors, ”ArticleReasonable conditions of service of prosecutors, adequate remuneration and, where applicable, tenure, housing, transport, conditions of physical and social security, pension and age of retirement and other conditions of service 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. 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
Prosecutors, as essential agents of the administration of justice, shall at all times maintain the honour and dignity of their profession.
↵Prosecutors shall:
(a) at all times maintain the honour and dignity of their profession;
- 6. Constitution, S. 162(1)-(3).↵
(1) There shall be a Director of Public Prosecutions whose office shall be a public office.
(2) The Director of Public Prosecutions, in this Chapter referred to as “the Director,” shall be appointed by the King on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission.
(3) A person shall not qualify to be appointed Director unless that person qualifies for appointment as a judge of the superior courts.
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