Americans Abroad and Consular Rights
- International Court of Justice: Avena Judgment, March 2004 (PDF)
- President George W. Bush Executive Order, February 2005 (PDF)
- Consular Notification Compliance Act, introduced June 2011 (PDF)
- Avena Q&A (DOC)
- State Department Consular Policy Statements and Data (DOC)
- Military Factsheet Re: Consular Access (DOC)
- U.S. Supreme Court Opinion in Medellin v. Texas (PDF)
- Stories and pictures of Americans detained abroad
Americans who travel abroad often assume that if they find themselves in trouble, they can turn to the American consulate for help. Foreign exchange students, peace corps volunteers and others who have been wrongly detained overseas often say that the assistance of the consulate is more important than the advice of a foreign lawyer. American consulates can help them contact family members, obtain evidence back home, and assist in obtaining competent legal representation. They can also provide protection from police torture and other abuses of power. What many people don't realize is that the availability of consular assistance depends on adherence to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), a treaty ratified by 173 nations—including the United States.
Article 36 of the VCCR establishes that whenever the authorities arrest a foreign national, they must advise her that she has the right to have her consulate notified of her detention. This applies to foreign nationals arrested in the United States as well as to Americans detained abroad. But when Texas authorities arrested Humberto Leal García, a Mexican national with no prior criminal convictions, they tried, convicted, and sentenced him to death without ever informing him of his consular rights and without notifying the Mexican consulate of his plight.
International tribunals, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, have found that the United States violated Mr. Leal's Vienna Convention rights, as well as his right to a fair trial and competent legal representation. Former President Bush directed the Texas courts to review Mr. Leal's conviction and sentence in accordance with the ICJ's decision, but Texas refused. The United States Supreme Court has found that while the U.S. has an international legal obligation to comply with the ICJ's decision, only Congress can implement the decision by passing legislation. President Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Obama Administration, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State, have all acknowledged that the United States is obligated to comply with ICJ's decision.
Congress has now introduced legislation that would require implementation of the ICJ's decision but Texas has not yet changed its plans to go forward with Mr. Leal's execution. A stay of execution is essential to prevent an irreparable breach of the United States' treaty commitments, and to protect the rights of all Americans who rely on the protections of the Vienna Convention. And unless Mr. Leal receives a reprieve, he will die before he ever sees justice.
