Wichita Falls Times Record News on DC Voting Rights
Scripps News Service Report
By Lisa Hoffman
August 10, 2006
The United Nations has blasted the United States for violating an international human-rights treaty because D.C. residents have no voting members of Congress. The treaty in question - the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified in 1992 by 160 countries, including the U.S. - says all citizens worldwide should have the right to elect their legislative representatives.
This wrist slap follows similar ones aimed at the U.S. by the Organization of American States in 2003 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe last year. The Bush administration counters that the lack of a voting D.C. senator or House member is a result of "a justifiable and important aspect of the federal system of government freely chosen by citizens of the United States." (Except those who live in Washington.)
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