The collection includes:

1) Consular Notification and Assistance: A Guide for Defense Attorneys.   This 40-page litigation guide includes a background to consular rights issues in U.S. criminal cases, tips for developing legal issues and working with consulates, a litigation history, a bibliography of articles from the media and law reviews, case citations, excerpts from the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, resource listings and a file library. Updated: February, 2007 (13th edition).

2)   Understanding Sanchez-Llamas    Briefly summarizes the core holdings of the most recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on remedies for Vienna Convention violations in criminal cases, with an analysis of its potential applications and limitations. Updated November, 2008.

3) Individual Consular Rights: Foreign Law and Practice    Citing official sources, this file demonstrates that more than 60 parties to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) recognize that the treaty confers legal rights on foreign detainees.  Many countries require advisement of consular rights simultaneously with other legal safeguards such as the right to an attorney, and courts in other common law nations have granted judicial remedies for violations of consular advisement obligations. November, 2006 (6 pages); updated regularly.

4) Consular Notification and Assistance: A Resource Guide for Consuls     Outlines the significance of consular notification and access to detainees, the rights conferred on individual nationals and consuls under the Vienna Convention, forms of consular assistance in death penalty cases, sources for additional information, recent developments and consular intervention in clemency campaigns. December, 2001 (12 pages).

5) Representing  Foreign Nationals Facing the Death Penalty    Intended primarily as a quick primer on relevant issues for attorneys, paralegals and investigators working on capital defense teams, the guide outlines the unique problems in representing foreign defendants, provides a strategy for enlisting the consulate as an ally, lists forms of consular assistance, describes recent litigation of consular rights, illustrates the significance of the issue in the context of Miranda claims and provides condensed material from the guide for defense attorneys (item 1 above). December, 2001.

6) Consular Notification: Statutory and Regulatory Provisions    A compilation of federal, state and local regulations, statutes and guidelines requiring notification of consular rights by law enforcement agencies.  September, 2006; updated periodically.

7) Consular Rights of Foreign Nationals: International Norms      Excerpts from international instruments enshrining the right of foreign detainees to consular communication and access. Includes United Nations instruments, regional standards and international court rulings. October, 2004; updated regularly.

8) Consular Notification and Access: Proposed Model Standards.     A 7-page discussion paper outlining standardized procedures for notifying detained foreigners of their consular rights. Proposed in the context of Canadian law enforcement procedures, but adaptable to other jurisdictions as well.

9) Violations of the Vienna Convention: Editorials, Articles and Statements    A collection of media items on the impact of VCCR violations in U.S. death penalty cases. May, 2002.

10) Instant Avena    A capsule summary of the main holdings of the International Court of Justice in the Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. USA).  May, 2004 (9 pages).

11) Foreigners Under Sentence of Death Worldwide     Preliminary data on foreign nationals on death row in 32 countries, including reported executions.  October, 2004; updated periodically

12) Returning Prisoners to Face the U.S. Death Penalty: Limitations Under International Law    Describes the legal basis for requiring a mandatory assurance against the death penalty before returning any individual from an abolitionist country to face the death penalty in the United States.  Updated June, 2008 (12 pages).

13) The Death Penalty Worldwide: Estimated Death Row Populations    In many parts of the world, the death penalty is shrouded in secrecy; accurate statistics on its use are incomplete or non-existent.  Drawing on many sources, this file provides a very tentative answer to a basic but difficult question: how many people are under sentence of death worldwide?  April, 2006; updated regularly.

New Resources
 

For the latest issue of  Article 36 Update (a quarterly newsletter on consular rights in America), please click here

For updated data on death-sentenced foreign nationals in the USA, please visit the Death Penalty Information Center

A collection of briefs from recent Vienna Convention cases (Torres, Medellín, Bustillo, Sanchez-Llamas) is available from the Debevoise & Plimpton brief bank

The following detailed guides are available from the International Justice Project website in Adobe Acrobat format:

Equal Protection : Consular Assistance & Criminal Justice Procedures in the USA