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STATES OF JERSEY
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COURT PROCEEDINGS: PROVISION OF LIVE-STREAMING FOR SITTINGS NORMALLY HELD IN PUBLIC
Lodged au Greffe on 14th April 2020 by Deputy M. Tadier of St. Brelade
STATES GREFFE
2020 P.43
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
- that court proceedings which are normally held in public should be live- streamed on a publicly-accessible website during the period in which courts are closed because of Covid-19; and
- to request the Judicial Greffier to ensure that live-streaming is in place by 31st May 2020.
DEPUTY M. TADIER OF ST. BRELADE
REPORT
The Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000, which is a reflection of ECHR legislation, states, in Schedule 1 (Convention Rights, Part 1) –
Article 6 Right to a fair trial
1. In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.
I understand that the normal workings of all branches of the state have needed to adapt for Health and Safety reasons due to the current Covid-19 situation. However, this does not mean that reasonable steps should not be taken to ensure the public interest, in this case, the maintenance of publicly viewable court proceedings and a guarantee of people's Human Rights under Jersey law.
A simple way to do this would be to make sure that all Civil and Criminal proceedings, which would normally be held in public, should be live-streamed on a publicly-available website.
The States Assembly has been broadcasting its proceedings via live-streaming for 4 years already, Members having voted 31 in favour and 13 against a proposal that cameras would be installed in the States Chamber in order to provide a live and on- demand video-stream through the States Assembly website. This decision was taken on 15th July 2015.
Even before this, States Sittings have been broadcast on AM Radio. This started experimentally on 30th September 1986, and was made a permanent feature on 25th November the same year.
Moreover, the current Hansard – a complete written record of everything that Members say during question time, statements and debates in the States Assembly – has been publicly available since December 2005.
It may well be that the Courts would also wish to publish an equivalent of Hansard for public cases.
Financial and manpower implications
It is envisaged that the changes should be funded from within existing budgets.
APPENDIX