Vienna Convention Implementation

Proposed Legislation to Implement Avena and the Vienna Convention in 2013

United States views on international law [1] in relation to Proposed Legislation to Implement Avena and the Vienna Convention: In 2013, Congress continued to consider legislation that would facilitate compliance with the ruling of the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) in the Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. US.), 2004 I.C.J. 12 (Mar. 31) (“Avena”), as well as the United States' consular notification and access obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (“VCCR”) and comparable bilateral international agreements. Much of the text of a bill that was first introduced in 2011 by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy entitled the “Consular Notification Compliance Act,” or CNCA, and later included in part in the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 2013 (S. 3241), was incorporated into the Senate State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 2014 (S. 1372), as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 25, 2013. The Senate Appropriations Committee's Report on the bill noted that the purpose of the section on consular notification compliance was “to provide a limited but important remedy for certain previous violations” of Article 36 of the VCCR and comparable provisions of bilateral international agreements. The Committee Report, Report 113-81, to accompany S. 1372, at 75 (July 25, 2013), is available at (link resource) gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-113srpt81/pdf/CRPT-113srpt81.pdf. Specifically, this section provides that foreign nationals who had been convicted of capital crimes as of the date of the legislation's enactment, and in whose cases domestic authorities had not complied with U.S. consular notification and access obligations, may seek federal court review to determine whether their convictions or sentences were prejudiced by the violation. In addition, this section would create a remedy for foreign national defendants facing capital charges who raise a timely consular notification claim. This section provides that these individuals could have the appropriate consulate notified immediately and obtain a postponement of proceedings, if the court determined this to be necessary to provide an adequate opportunity for consular access and assistance.

Some Aspects of Proposed Legislation to Implement Avena and the Vienna Convention

The consular notification compliance section contained in the Senate's State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 2014 (S. 1372) was also included in Section 7062 of the President's Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for the Department of State and Other International Programs, which is available at (President's Subdomain) whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2014/assets/sta.pdf. For further background on efforts to facilitate compliance with the VCCR, as well as the ruling of the ICJ in Avena, see this world legal encyclopedia (in relation to issues that took place in the year 2004) at 37-43; this world legal encyclopedia (in relation to issues that took place in the year 2005) at 29-30; this world legal encyclopedia (in relation to issues that took place in the year 2007) at 73-77; this world legal encyclopedia (in relation to issues that took place in the year 2008) at 35, 153, 175-215; this world legal encyclopedia (in relation to issues that took place in the year 2011) at 11-23; this world legal encyclopedia (in relation to issues that took place in the year 2012) at 1516. For more information on the State Department's outreach efforts to members of local law enforcement to ensure their awareness of consular notification requirements, see the website of the Bureau of Consular Affairs at (link resource) travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/consularnotification.html.

Resources

Notes

1. Proposed Legislation to Implement Avena and the Vienna Convention in the Digest of United States Practice in International Law