NEW VOICES: Request for Texas to Honor Treaty for Safety of U.S. Citizens Abroad

An op-ed by Texas state Senator Rodney Ellis and law professor Craig Jackson argues that Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons should follow the International Court of Justice’s order to stay the executions of Mexican citizens in Texas. They believe the World Court’s decision was the “right thing to do” and Gov. Perry “would do well to consider how defiance of the World Court ruling will affect the safety of Americans abroad who rely on the same treaty protections that Texas violated in these cases.” The World Court held that the U.S. was in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which states that law enforcement officials should ensure that arrests of foreigners be quickly reported to their nations’ consulates. The reason the U.S. entered into that treaty was to ensure that American citizens would have access to American consular officials if arrested abroad.

“American officials can provide a number of services for Americans in trouble to assure proper and fair treatment. And on countless occasions, U.S. consular officials have interceded with foreign authorities to protect the rights of wrongly detained Americans. But in order to secure this access for Americans traveling abroad, the United States had to ensure that it would provide access for foreigners in the United States. This is what it did in ratifying the treaty,” states the op-ed. Citing concern for every American missionary, teacher, or tourist in Central or East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere, the authors argue, “Given the issues at stake for all Americans, it is only right that Congress and the Texas Legislature be given the opportunity to ensure our nation lives up to the promises it made to its treaty partners.”
(R. Ellis, C. Jackson, “Perry has chance to show another side of Texas justice, Governor should honor US commitment to treaty terms,” Houston Chronicle, July 22, 2008).  See International and Foreign Nationals.