For Immediate Release
Contact: Doxie A. McCoy
April 7, 2004
(202) 225-8050, (202)225-8143-cell
Doxie.mccoy@mail.house.gov
Web Site: <http://www.norton.house.gov
NORTON WANTS HELSINKI COMMISSION HEARING ON D.C. VOTING RIGHTS
Washington,
DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released a letter to
congressional representatives who comprise the Helsinki Commission requesting
hearings on a February finding by the Organization of American States (OAS)
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the United States is in
violation of international human rights law by denying congressional voting
rights to D.C. residents. The
letter was addressed to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman; and Sen. Ben
Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Co-Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, consisting
of 18 Members of the House and Senate, and two officials from the Departments
of State and Commerce.
Norton said in the
letter, "The Helsinki Commission has a distinguished reputation and track
record of impartial investigation of human rights violations throughout the
world... Consistent with your hearings on violations in other countries, we ask
you to hold a hearing considering the OAS Human Rights Commission ruling and to
provide a recommendation concerning this violation in our own
country." Norton pointed to
the close similarities between the pertinent OAS and Helsinki Commission
articles, both guaranteeing equal rights and equal participation through the
election of representatives, and concluded that, now that "the OAS has found our own
government to be in violation...of the American Declaration of the Rights of
Man.... we believe that the Commission has an obligation to hold a hearing on
this violation in our country and to recommend compliance with the OAS
recommendation."
Twenty-three D.C. residents, led by international human rights
activist, Tim Cooper, filed the OAS case 11 years ago. Norton said that the Helsinki
Commission had a particular obligation to hold a hearing, considering that the
United States is insisting on democracy in other countries, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The full text of Norton's letter follows.
April 7, 2004
Congressman Chris Smith
Chair, Helsinki Commission
234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Co-Chair, Helsinki Commission
234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representative Smith and Senator Campbell:
I write to request a hearing and finding by the Helsinki
Commission concerning the decision by the Organization of American States (OAS)
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the denial of equal
congressional voting rights in the District of Columbia by the United States
Government violates international human rights law. Case #11.264, brought by 23 citizens of the District of
Columbia, was decided after 11 years of investigation.
The Commission found that the United States should provide
"an effective remedy" by law or other measures "to guarantee
[D.C. residents] the effective right to participate, directly or through freely
chosen representatives and the general conditions of equality in their national
legislature."
The Helsinki Commission has a distinguished reputation and track
record of impartial investigation of human rights violations throughout the
world. Now the OAS has found our
own government to be in violation of Articles II and XX of the American
Declaration of the Rights of Man.
These sections are almost identical to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Articles 5.9 and 6 that govern your own human
rights commitments as a commission.
Inasmuch as these articles also guarantee equal rights and equal
participation through the election of representatives, we believe that the
Commission has an obligation to hold a hearing on this violation in our own
country and to recommend compliance with the OAS recommendation.
Our country is at the helm of world leadership insisting on
democracy and equal representation in other countries through U.S. policies,
the influential State Department Annual Human Rights Report, and your commission. The United States demands that
countries not only profess but practice democracy by affording equal
representation to its citizens.
Consistent with your hearings on violations in other countries, we ask
you to hold a hearing considering the OAS Human Rights Commission ruling and to
provide a recommendation concerning this violation in our own country.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Holmes Norton