About Human Rights Research

Mark Warren
HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH
Tel: (613) 256-8308
email

1408 Ramsay Concession 1 RR 2 Almonte, Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada
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Supporting International Law Claims: Available Resources

Human Rights Research is an independent consulting service providing information and expertise on international human rights issues to governments, NGOs and attorneys. It has assisted in the research, drafting or submission of briefs to the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee, the Supreme Court and Federal Court of Canada, the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal and state courts in the United States.

Among other services, Human Rights Research acts as a clearinghouse for information on consular notification and assistance issues in the context of the death penalty in the USA. It offers:

* Free information on consular rights issues in death penalty cases: an extensive electronic file library, regularly updated Internet postings, general information by phone/ e-mail.

* Free additional assistance to pro bono counsel representing foreign nationals facing the death penalty or in other cases which raise issues under international law (such as extradition, deportation or fair trial concerns), including support in the preparation of motions, appeals and amicus briefs.

* Consulting services for retained or appointed counsel who require additional assistance in death penalty cases. Services include preparing research memos or briefs and drafting applications to international bodies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

* Clemency campaigning in the cases of foreign nationals or other prisoners facing execution, including the preparation of campaign strategies, press releases, publicity coordination, clemency petitions and related services, on a pro bono or retained basis.

* Consulting services for consulates, including support for enhancing or upgrading consular assistance programs.

* Research, writing and editing services on human rights topics in the context of criminal law procedures.

Please contact me for additional information.

All enquiries and services provided are confidential.
Work experience, references and a fee schedule are available upon request.

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About the author

Mark Warren is a human rights researcher and legal consultant based near Ottawa, Canada, who specializes in the application of treaty law and international human rights standards to death penalty cases. Mark has been active in death penalty issues since 1987 as an activist, public speaker, researcher and author.

Mark has written extensively on transnational death penalty issues and is the author of several instruction manuals for consular officers and attorneys representing foreign nationals facing capital charges. He has written reports on the human rights aspects of the death penalty for Amnesty International, the International Justice Project and other non-governmental organizations. His recent publications include law review articles for Guild Practitioner, the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, the Journal of the Institute of Justice and International Studies and the Hofstra Law Review. He also recently copy edited a book entitled Human Rights Litigation Promoting International Law in U.S. Courts (LFB, 2005) and is the author of the chapter on consular treaty issues in Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense (Juris, 2008 (2d. ed.)).

Mark has worked with defense teams in more than 60 capital cases and has assisted in presenting international law claims in many venues, including the International Court of Justice, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of Japan and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He was a member of Mexico’s legal team in its successful lawsuit against the United States at the International Court of Justice (Avena and Other Mexican Nationals), addressing violations of consular rights in over 50 death penalty cases involving Mexican nationals. His affidavit on consular interventions was recently cited by the Federal Court of Canada as part of the evidence that "overwhelmingly establishes the value of government intervention on behalf of their nationals facing execution in the United States." (Smith v. Canada (Attorney General)(2009 FC 228), para. 47.

Apart from documenting and addressing the rights of foreign nationals, Mark's legal work focuses on the application of extradition treaties and other international instruments to death penalty cases. He worked with the legal team that obtained a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of Canada against extradition to the United States without assurances against the death penalty (United States v. Burns, [2001] 1 S.C.R. 283). He has also prepared submissions on behalf of U.S. death row prisoners that produced positive rulings from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and other international tribunals.

As an expert on foreign nationals and the death penalty, Mark has been widely quoted in the domestic and international media, including the New York Times, National Public Radio, the Associated Press and the BBC. He also posts on-line statistical information, studies and updates to the Death Penalty Information Center and the Human Rights Research websites. His documentation of death-sentenced foreign nationals in the United States was cited in a U.S. Supreme Court decision (Medellin v. Dretke, 125 S.Ct. 2088, 2096 (2005) (O’Connor, J., dissenting)). One of his recent research projects resulted in the first-ever estimate of the global death row population, material that was cited in an Amnesty International report which received worldwide media coverage.