There are cur­rent­ly 120 for­eign nation­als from 32 coun­tries on death rows across the U.S. These are indi­vid­u­als who have been con­demned to death in this coun­try but are not cit­i­zens of the U.S. In many cas­es, these defen­dants were not informed of their rights under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This treaty was signed and rat­i­fied by the U.S., but many defen­dants from coun­tries that are also par­ties to the Vienna Convention were not told of their right to con­tact the con­sulate of their native coun­try. The con­sulates were also not prompt­ly informed of the arrest of one of their cit­i­zens. (DPIC’s page on Foreign Nationals pro­vides fur­ther details. Information on for­eign nation­als is from Mark Warren of Human Rights Research, updat­ed May 24, 2006).

The U.S. Supreme Court heard two cas­es this term involv­ing the rights of such for­eign nation­als. Although nei­ther defen­dant was sen­tenced to death, res­o­lu­tion of the cas­es will decide legal ques­tions that will like­ly affect those on death row. The cas­es are Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon and Bustillo v. Johnson. Decisons from the Supreme Court are expect­ed this month. See law firm of Debevoise and Plimpton for briefs in the above cases.

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