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O R L D R I G H T S
March 10, 2004
Ambassador Rubens Barbosa
Embassy of Brazil
3006 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington, DC 20008
Dear Ambassador Barbosa:
I am enclosing herewith for your information a copy of the recent historic decision by the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, finding the United States government in violation of the human rights of the 570,000 residents of its capital city of Washington, DC.
This landmark decision, resulting
from nearly 11 years of careful deliberation, finds the US government in direct
violation of Articles II & XX of the American Declaration of the Rights
and Duties of Man, the governing charter of
the OAS and its 35 member states.
These articles guarantee all citizens: 1) equality
before the law and 2) the right to participation in their own national
legislature through duly elected representatives.
In the case of the District of Columbia, its residents have been denied equal voting rights in the US Congress since 1801. It is a supreme, if not tragic, irony that the residents of the capital city of the most powerful democratic nation in the world do not enjoy the right to representative democracy.
As a
result of its findings, the OAS Commission made the following recommendations
to the US: ÒProvide the
Petitioners [residents of Washington, DC] 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.Ó
Since the publication of the OAS decision in February, the US government -- including the White House, the US Congress and the US State Department-- far from taking steps to remedy the violations, has failed to even acknowledge themÑa symptom of its continuing inability to deal in any productive way with its own 200-year old Òfrozen conflictÓ over this national issue of fundamental rights.
We therefore
are writing to you today, firstly to thank you and all members of the
Organization of American States for this important and heroic decision; and to
ask for your countryÕs sponsorship of an OAS General Assembly Resolution to be
presented and voted on in Ecuador in June 2004, calling on the US government to
comply with the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights in Case No. 11.204, Statehood Solidarity Committee vs. the United
States.
We will also be asking for your countryÕs sponsorship of a similar UN General Assembly Resolution to be presented in New York in September 2004 and enclosed herein.
For your further information, the residents of the federal enclaves of Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Caracas and Mexico City all enjoy equal representation in their own national legislatures through duly elected representatives. It is our hope that District of Columbia residents will soon enjoy equal political participation in the US Congress as a result of the OAS findings and recommendations, and a resolution of the OAS General Assembly.
During the week of April 5 through 9, 2004, diplomatic delegations of DC residents will be visiting your embassy to present you with a draft resolution for the OAS General Assembly that we hope your country will sponsor or co-sponsor. We would very much like to meet with you, and hope to schedule an appointment during that week. It is our hope to contact the press in your country to notify them of our visit, and to express our gratitude to your nation for its support of this historic OAS decision, which may prove to be of critical importance in District residentsÕ200 year old struggle for equality.
The full text of the OAS decision may also be found at: http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2003eng/USA.11204.htm
Respectfully,
Timothy Cooper
Executive Director
Enc: OAS Decision
Excerpt of OAS Decision
DC Council Letter
New York Times Article
Washington Post article