INTRODUCTION

September 25, 2006
Washington, D.C. is the capital of the richest country in the world, the United States, which has fought many wars in the name of democracy. But the residents of our nation's capital remain disenfranchised and undemocratically, unjustly governed by Congress instead of enjoying the same democratic rights as every other U.S. citizen. We do not have voting representation in Congress, yet Congress holds veto power over our budget and legislation. Congress tells us how we can and cannot spend our money. Congress imposed an appointed Financial Control Board for five years, which until its termination in late 2001 usurped the already limited power of our elected mayor and city council.

The Control Board and the corporate sector of the D.C. metropolitan region, with support from Congress and the President, have advanced agenda strikingly similar to the structural adjustment programs that the IMF and World Bank have implemented around the world. In the name of promoting tourism and revitalizing the city, they bestow massive tax breaks and land giveaways on corporations while gutting or privatizing public services and resources and promoting gentrification. These policies are still largely in place and as a result, income inequality grew dramatically over the past twenty years to the highest in the nation, compared to the fifty states.

Health statistics in D.C. are appalling, especially for the District's African American population and the poor. D.C. suffers the highest rates of HIV infection and AIDS cases per capita in the U.S., while Congress continues to block measures to halt this epidemic. In addition to HIV/AIDS, the District leads the nation in many chronic diseases -- such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension -- all of which can be substantially prevented or treated through improved primary care. In the early 1990s the life expectancy for African American men was less than 60 years. Newly released data for 1999 show little improvement with Black men having a life expectancy at birth of 10 years below the national average, and Black women 5 years below. The life expectancy for DC residents was lower than any of the 50 states. Yet the Control Board closed the public hospital that effectively served low- income residents, and no equivalent facility has yet been opened to replace it.

On July 28, 2006, the U.N. Human Rights Committee found that the District of Columbia’s lack of voting representation in Congress violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty ratified by more than 160 countries including the United States. This ruling came as a result of the initiative of Tim Cooper after over a decade of his tireless efforts, focusing on this denial of District residents’ political rights.

For these reasons the D.C. Statehood Green Party and Stand Up for Democracy in D.C. Coalition offer the following petition to the U.N. Committee on Human Rights and the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, both Committees monitoring the compliance with treaties that the U.S. government has signed and ratified. Because of our support for the principle of universal human rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in our Petition we also refer to other US human rights violations pertaining to other international Conventions that are still not ratified by the US government. We invite you to join us in our struggle to win democracy and human rights in our nation's capital, by supporting this initiative by signing our Petition and urging others to do the same.

THE PETITION

We, the undersigned individuals and organizations from the United States and from countries around the world, join in support of this petition to the U.N. Human Rights Committee and the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Whereas, the U.S. government, both executive and legislative branches, continues to deny the residents of its capital, the District of Columbia, the same political rights enjoyed by citizens of our nation's fifty states, namely full voting representation in both houses of our national legislature, the U.S. Congress, as well as legislative, budgetary, and judicial autonomy,

Whereas, these rights are outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which the U.S. has ratified, which holds that every citizen has the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, to vote and to be elected according to universal and equal suffrage, and to have access to public service on general terms of equality,

Whereas, the rights to equality before the law and to political participation in the national legislature are fundamental human rights under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (Articles 2 and 20),

Whereas, only statehood will give us self-determination on the same terms of equality with other U.S. citizens, that is permanent legislative, budgetary and judicial autonomy as a state, as well as full voting rights in the House of Representatives and two voting Senators,

Whereas, the denial of our political rights is a racist assault on our majority African American and Latino District population, as well as on minorities throughout our nation, by precluding the possibility that our voting delegation to Congress, including two
Senators, would be people of color,

Whereas, this denial is a violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,

Whereas, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 23, 25 and 26), and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child outline each person's right to housing, food, education, health care and a job at a living wage and the right of each child to health and education respectively (see footnote),

Whereas, the U.N. Charter outlining the rights of Non-Self Governing Territories, Article 73 requires colonial powers “to develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions, according to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and their varying stages of advancement” (see footnote).


Whereas, the continued denial of our political rights has facilitated a longstanding denial of these economic and social rights, while the residents of the District of Columbia continue to be subjected to corporate-driven neoliberal Structural Adjustment programs which entail brutal and racist attacks on these human rights by their erosion of democracy, privatization of municipal services and property, cuts and inadequate funding of basic social services including education, gentrification and lack of affordable housing for our working class majority, toleration of persistent poverty of a large fraction of our children, shockingly low life expectancy and an infant mortality rate that is significantly higher than the national average for our African-American residents, destruction of our only public hospital, the continued denial of quality medical care to a large fraction of our residents, inadequate income security, the nation's widest income gap between rich and poor, and the heavy weight of corporate financing of our established political leaders corroding our democratic process,

Whereas, while our President and Department of State preaches the virtues of democracy and human rights to the global community, the absence of voting representation in Congress of the residents of our nation's capital is a virtually unique denial of political rights of the residents of any national capital around the globe,

Whereas, the just attainment of our political, social, and economic human rights can only result from national and global solidarity with our local struggles,

Whereas, the fulfillment of these rights would greatly encourage the reciprocal solidarity of the residents of the District of Columbia, as well as supporters of real democracy throughout our nation, with movements for peace and global justice,

We the undersigned petitioners, the residents of the District of Columbia, the people of the United States of America, and citizens of the world, urgently request a full hearing by the U.N. Human Rights Committee and U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to consider the grievances outlined in this petition and documented in supporting materials.

Footnotes:

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself [herself] and his [her] family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services..."

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child states: "The child has a right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the provision of primary and preventive health care, public health education and the reduction of infant mortality... Every child has a right to a standard of living adequate for his or her physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. The child has a right to leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities."

While the U.N. Charter outlining the rights of Non-Self Governing Territories, Article 73, may not be technically applicable to District residents, its provisions make their neocolonial status transparently indefensible.

To date the United States government still has not ratified the following relevant treaties:
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Sign the Petition