Mexico Sues U.S. in ICJ over Consular Rights in Death Penalty Cases

On January 9, 2002, the Mexican Government brought a complaint against the U.S. in the International Court fo Justice (ICJ) over a dispute concerning alleged violations of the consular rights of Mexican nationals on death row in the U.S. and requested provisional measures, including the commutation of their executions. In particular, the Mexican complaint alleges violations of Articles 5 and 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of April 24, 1963 with respect to 54 Mexican nationals who have been sentenced to death in the States of California, Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma and Oregon. Mexico alleges that the 54 cases illustrate the systemic nature of the U.S. violation of its obligation under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention to inform nationals of Mexico of the right to consular assistance and to provide relief adequate to redress such violation. Mexico claims that, in at least 49 of these cases, no evidence exists that the competent U.S. authorities tried to comply with Article 36 before Mexico?s nationals were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. It further argues that in four cases, some effect apparently was made to comply with Article 36, but that the authorities still failed to provide the required notification ?without delay.? The complaint alleges that in one case the detained national was informed of his rights to consular notification and access in connection with immigration proceedings, but not in connection with pending capital charges. The Mexican compliant catalogues each by state and describes the case. Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo, the Foreign ministry lawyer who filed the complaint, explained state and local courts in the U.S. regularly assign Mexican defendants public defenders who ?speak little or no Spanish and have no experience in death penalty cases.? He explained that if U.S. court followed the treaty, Mexican consulates would provide defendants Spanish-speaking lawyers who are experienced in U.S. death penalty cases, which would greatly improve chances of a fair trail. According to a U.S. Government official, 100,000 Mexican nations are in U.S. prisons. Hence, the very large number of Mexican nations make it difficult to comply with the Vienna Convention. Additionally, because the U.S. has so many local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. takes the position that is has been difficult to educate all of them about the treaty.