[amc] FW: Texas' Most Fundamental Human Rights Violation
- From: "Kathy Reid" <Kathy@xxxxxxx>
- To: "Mennonite Church" <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 08:38:28 -0600
-----Original Message-----
From: Waltlong@xxxxxxx [mailto:Waltlong@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 2:59 AM
To: Waltlong@xxxxxxx
Subject: Texas' Most Fundamental Human Rights Violation
Dear Leaders in the faith community:
On October 22nd, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington
D.C. issued its decision in the case of Michael Domingues. Domingues, like
Napoleon Beazley and Toronto Patterson, was under 18 at the time of his
capital offense. The Inter-American Commission held that, by imposing the
death penalty against Domingues for crimes he committed while under 18, the
United States (Nevada) violated a norm of jus cogens, the most superior of
all international law norms "which the laws of man or nations may not
contravene." As the opinion relates, "Norms of jus cogens . . . derive
their status from the fundamental values held by the international
community, as violations of such peremptory norms are considered to shock
the conscience of humankind and therefore bind the international community
as a whole, irrespective of protest, recognition or acquiescence. Commonly
cited examples of rules of customary law that have attained the status of
jus cogens norms include genocide, slavery, forced disappearances and
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
The Commission's decision should be treated by the United States as binding,
because the United States is a treaty party to the Charter of the
Organization of American States, and as such is required to respect the
human rights provisions found in the American Declaration of the Rights and
Duties of Man, as interpreted by the Commission. The Commission
specifically held in Domingues:
"[T]he State [the United States/Nevada] has acted contrary to a[n]
international norm of jus cogens as reflected in Article I of the American
Declaration by sentencing Michael Domingues to death for crimes that he
committed when he was 16 years of age. Consequently, should the State [the
United States/Nevada] execute Mr. Domingues pursuant to this sentence, it
will be responsible for a grave and irreparable violation of Mr. Domingues'
right to life under Article I of the American Declaration."
The Domingues document is very significant. It is the first such decision
by an international tribunal finding the United States to have violated the
jus cogens norm (as opposed to customary international law alone). The
opinion is very sound, and should withstand all scrutiny. Please read it at
the Commission's website
(http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2002eng/USA.12285.htm) and inform your
congregations and denominations of the Commission's holding.
Other developments earlier this year that show worldwide acceptance of the
jus cogens norm and may not be mentioned in the final version of the
decision at the website include (1) signature of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child by Somalia, with a promise to quickly ratify (which will
leave the United States as the only nation that has not ratified the Child
Convention, with its prohibition on the death penalty for those under 18);
(2) a decision by the Philippines' Supreme Court, recognizing youth as a
mandatory mitigating circumstance, commuting the death sentences of 12
juvenile offenders who committed their crimes under age 18; and (3) action
taken by Pakistan to commute to life the death sentences of 74 juvenile
offenders.
According to Amnesty International, only three juvenile offenders have been
executed in the world this year. All by the State of Texas. Indeed, in the
last 10 years, Texas has executed 10 juvenile offenders, 2 more than all
other nations in the world combined for the same time period.
Please also inform your congregations and denominations of House Bill 127,
which was filed on November 12th by Rep. Lon Burnam, Fort Worth, again
seeking to raise the eligibility age for the death sentence in Texas to 18
in compliance with the jus cogens norm.
Napoleon Beazley's petition is still pending at the Inter-American
Commission and its decision in Napoleon's case may be forthcoming as soon as
February 2003. The Commission will find that Texas, specifically, is
violating the jus cogens norm.
Please redistribute this information widely. Thank you,
Walter Long
Law Office of David L. Botsford
1307 West Ave.
Austin, Texas 78701
512-479-8030 (office)
512-479-8040 (home)
512-554-2269 (cell)
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