MISSION STATEMENT PROFILE AREAS OF EXPERTISE CURRENT CAMPAIGNS CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS US HUMAN RIGHTS EARTH RIGHTS PUBLIC SPEAKING DONATE CONTACT US

April 26, 2004

Ambassador Christian Strohal
Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Aleje Ujazdowskie 19
Warsaw, Poland

Dear Ambassador Strohal,

We are writing to inform you of the December 29, 2003 decision of the Organization of American States' (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the case of Statehood Solidarity Committee v. the United States.

The OAS determined that the United States is violating the human rights of 570,000 residents of its capital city-Washington, DC-- by denying them the right to equal participation in their own national legislature. The people of Washington have been denied equal voting rights in the US Congress since 1801.

In 1993, a legal petition was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by 23 DC residents, charging the US government with continuing human rights violations in light of the fact that they were denied the right to 1) equality before the law and 2) the right to participation in their own national legislature through duly elected representatives. These fundamental human rights are guaranteed to all citizens of OAS States under the OAS Charter.

After a decade of study, the Commission concluded "the State is responsible for violations of the Petitioners' rights under Articles II and XX of the American Declaration by denying them an effective opportunity to participate in their federal legislature."

As a result, the Commission issued the following recommendations: "Provide the Petitioners with an effective remedy, which includes adopting the legislative or other measures necessary to guarantee to the Petitioners the effective right to participate, directly or through freely chosen representatives and in general conditions of equality, in their national legislature."

To date, the US government has failed to remedy those violations.

Significantly, the human rights standards enunciated under Articles 5.9 and 6 of the 1990 Copenhagen Document and recognized by OSCE States-including the United States-as fundamental rights, are identical to those guaranteed under the OAS Charter. Under Articles 5.9 and 6, citizens of OSCE States are entitled to 1) the right to equality before the law, and 2) the right for citizens "to take part in the governing of their country, either directly or through representatives freely chosen by them through fair electoral processes." Article 7 guarantees universal suffrage.

It follows therefore that violations found under the OAS Charter by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights strongly indicate the non-observation by the United States of its OSCE human dimension commitments under Articles 5.9 and 6 of the 1990 Copenhagen Document.

The entire text of OAS decision is located on the OAS website: www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2003eng/USA.11204.htm

It is our understanding that the United States of America, like all OSCE participating States, will invite ODHIR and OSCE participating States to send observers to the November 2, 2004 Presidential and Congressional Elections in the United States.

Worldrights strongly urges the ODHIR to accept the forthcoming U.S. invitation, and to send election observers to the United States, in order to witness first-handed the clear violations of OSCE human dimension commitments being committed by the United States in the case of over a half million U.S. citizens living in the nation's capital.

It is time the U.S. was held accountable for this noncompliance of OSCE human dimension commitments. The U.S. must be called on by the ODIHR and the OSCE to bring its domestic legislation into conformity with its international human dimension obligations both under the OAS Charter and the 1990 Copenhagen Document.

If you have any questions regarding the OAS decision in this landmark case or our request for OHIHR to send election observers to Washington, D.C. for the November 2, 20004 Presidential and Congressional Elections, please do not hesitate to call. For your information, I will also be addressing this issue at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation meeting in Warsaw in October 2004.

Sincerely,

 

Timothy Cooper
Executive Director

Enc. Excerpts from OAS decision; New York Times & Washington Post article

 

 

EXCERPTS FROM THE DECISION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN

STATEHOOD SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE V. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

."In entering into this stage of its analysis, the Commission acknowledges the degree of deference that must properly be afforded to states in organizing their political institutions so as to give effect to the right to vote and to participate in government.  The Commission should only interfere in cases where the State has curtailed the very essence and effectiveness of an individual's right to participate in his or her government.  After considering the information on the record, however, the Commission finds that the restrictions on the Petitioners' rights under Article XX to participate in their national legislature have been curtailed in such a manner as to deprive the Petitioners of the very essence and effectiveness of that right, without adequate justification being shown by the State for this curtailment.

.

[T]he Commission must interpret and apply Articles II and XX in the context of current circumstances and standards

.

Significantly, the State's judicial branch has specifically concluded that the historical rationale for the District Clause in the U.S. Constitution would not today require the exclusion of District residents from the Congressional franchise and has accepted that denial of the franchise is not necessary for the effective functioning of the seat of government.

.

The Commission also considers it significant that according to the information available, no other federal state in the Western Hemisphere denies the residents of its federal capital the right to vote for representatives in their national legislature.

.

Based upon the response of the United States, the Commission finds that the State has failed to take measures to comply fully with the Commission's recommendations. On this basis, and having considered the State's observations, the Commission has decided to ratify its conclusions and reiterate its recommendations, as set forth below.

.

The Commission hereby concludes that the State is responsible for violations of the Petitioners' rights under Articles II and XX of the American Declaration by denying them an effective opportunity to participate in their federal legislature.

.

Provide the Petitioners with an effective remedy, which includes adopting the legislative or other measures necessary to guarantee to the Petitioners the effective right to participate, directly or through freely chosen representatives and in general conditions of equality, in their national legislature."