INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS OF INVESTIGATORS

Abstract

This scientific article examines international standards of professional ethics for investigators.The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the fact that international standards reflect the best practices of many countries, generalized at the international level, which play an important role in reforming the national criminal justice system.The purpose of the article is to define a system of international standards of professional ethics for investigators, as well as to characterize the content of its basic principles, rules, and requirements.International standards of professional ethics for investigators are defined as a set of interrelated and interdependent legal and moral-ethical requirements, rules, and principles that are imposed on the behavior of investigators as law enforcement officers and are aimed at the proper implementation of their procedural powers in the interests of society.It has been established that, at the international level, professional ethics standards for investigators have long been developed in the context of establishing requirements for police activities. At the same time, the system of international standards of ethics for investigators distinguishes between global (worldwide) and regional (European) levels.It has been substantiated that the main sources of international standards of professional ethics for investigators are the 1979 Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the 1979 Declaration on the Police, and the 2001 European Code of Police Ethics, as well as the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.Based on an analysis of these international legal documents, the following basic principles of professional ethics for investigators have been identified: professionalism, transparency, fairness, responsibility, limited use of coercion, honesty, impartiality, dignity, confidentiality, integrity, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, etc.