THIS IS THE RHETORIC
BUT, WITH THE US DEPARTMENT OF STATE CLAIMING THAT ‘EXTENSIVE’ & ‘SYSTEMATIC’ HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS & DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN ARE “PRIVATE MATTERS”…
AND, FURTHER CONTENDING THAT A COUNTRY’S VIOLATION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED UNDER ‘SOVEREIGNTY RIGHTS’, AND JUDICIAL ACTORS VIOLATION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED UNDER ‘JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE’ ….
THIS IS THE REALITY
February 27, 2013
RE: Human rights violations under the failure to protect and the principle of due diligence – Wilcox vs. Gonzalez de Alcala and Gonzalez de Alcala vs. Wilcox / juzgado de Mostoles, Madrid, Spain
Dear Mr. Pettit (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Overseas Citizens Services); and Joanne Hunter (Ofc. of Amer. Citizen Services & Crisis Mgt.), Joyce Namde (European Division Director Office of Amer Citizen Services & Crisis Mgt);
I am contacting the US State Department, Overseas Citizens Services in regards to my divorce/domestic violence case in Spain. Please find enclosed my recent correspondence to the American Consulate in Madrid, once again requesting their assistance under the Convention of Consular Relations.
I am hereby again requesting that the US State Department in Washington, DC, request that the American Consulate in Madrid provide me with the assistance I am soliciting under the Convention of Consular Relations[i], U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual – Consular Affairs (FAM – General Guidelines for Victims of Crimes / Victims of Domestic Abuse,) and Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, inter alia.
For your convenience, please find enclosed past correspondence in regards to my case:
- Correspondence with the US State Department, Office of American Citizen Services and Crisis Management in Washington, DC, and American Consulate in Madrid, etc. (2007-2010)
- A complaint to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment Women – Commission on the Status of Women (2012)for human rights violations and discrimination against women by Spanish State and non-State actors (supporting documents are posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/557300.)
- A complaint to the Spanish Defensor del Pueblo and Consejo General de Poder Judicial (2012) for constitutional, civil and human rights violations by el juzgado de Mostoles, Spanish government and non-government agencies, and my legal counsel (full document and supporting documents are posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/52011)
- A complaint to the Spanish Instituto de Mujer (2012)for discrimination against women in Spanish family courts – English translation (original Spanish version and supporting documents are posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/50602)
In efforts to exhaust all remedies at my disposal, before initiating litigation within the international courts against Spain for human rights violations under their obligation to protect and the principle of due diligence,[1] I will be filing an official complaint with the Colegio de Abogado de Madrid against my legal counsel for their negligence between 2007 and 2012 (under the Spanish Constitution, civil code, and penal code). My complaint and supporting documents are posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/52999.
It should be noted that the names of the following legal counsel were obtained directly and/or indirectly from the American Embassy in Spain’s website:
- Señor Gonzalo Martínez de Haro de Viñador, Carlos y Asociados – Juicio Rápido 607/2007 Wilcox vs. González de Alcalá
- Señora Belén García Martin, de Plehn Abogados (Steven Plehn) – Medias a la Previa 1140/2007 González de Alcalá vs. Wilcox
- Jorge Capell Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira – Divorcio Contencioso 1143/2007 González de Alcalá vs. Wilcox
I will also be re-submitting my complaints to the Defensor del Pueblo and Consejo General de Poder Judicial. I trust that the US State Department, and the American Embassy and Consulate in Madrid will assure, through appropriate channels, that all my complaints and allegations will be examined and investigated, with responsible parties being held accountable; using the highest standards of diligence and to the letter of the law.
Seventy percent of international child abduction cases under the Hague Convention are women fleeing domestic abuse and a government’s failure to protect (http://www.haguedv.org/reports.) These women are being held to the letter of the law by sending and receiving States, facing criminal charges and incarceration for extend periods of time. In my case, I am requesting that legal counsel and other judicial actors in Spain be held to the same standard as these women; anything less is discrimination and in violation of Spanish and international law.
The prevalence of the problems that I have encountered within the Spanish legal system in the past 6 years is well documented by Amnesty International and various UN Commissions, detailed in report after report (posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/55730.) My case clearly demonstrates to what extent deeply entrenched cultural norms and traditions that discriminate against and perpetuate the domination of women in a society preclude even the most progressive of laws and legal codes.
Under the Spanish Constitution, civil code and Equality Act 3/2007, women in Spain are accorded more rights than any other country in the world. However, due to rampant discrimination and corruption within their judicial system,[2] women are unable to enjoy or exercise those rights.
My case not only involves my right to life and security, and the right to protection of those rights by implicated State and non-State actors, but my right to work (see Structure & Concept of Global Expats on www.global-xpats.com/al/documents.) The threats and manipulations of my ex-husband (and other family members) in the past 6 years have been with the expressed intention of preventing me from developing my project, as well as financial independence for me and my children. State and non-State actors who have knowingly or un-unknowingly been complicit in his (their) efforts are responsible for human rights violations as well as any and all damages produced (under Spanish and international law.)
Violence against, and intimidation/oppression of women, are not “civil disputes” or “private matters,” as US State Department officials have constantly contended in my case. Violence against, and intimidation/oppression of women, whether it is sanctioned by executive decree of a State, or transpires due to a State’s failure to protect, are human rights violation.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. If you should require further information, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at quenby@global-xpats.com or (202) 213-4911.
Sincerely,
Quenby Wilcox
Founder – Global Expats
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cc[3]: President Barak Obama, White House
US Secretary of State John Kerry, US State Department
Assistant Secretary, Consular Affairs Janice L. Jacobs, US State Department
Joyce Namde, European Division Director, Office of American Citizen Services and Crisis Management
Joanne Hunter, Office of American Citizen Services and Crisis Management
Assistant Secretary, Michael H. Posner, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US State Department
Ambassador-at-Large Stephen J. Rapp, Office of Global Criminal Justice, US State Department
Deputy, Beth Van Schaack, Office of Global Criminal Justice, US State Department
Ambassador Alan D. Solomont, Embassy of the United States Spain
General Consul Peggy Gennatiempo
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[1] as established by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Gonzales vs. USA (2011- www.aclu.org/human-rights-womens-rights/jessica-gonzales-v-usa) & Velazquez vs. Honduras and the European Courts on Human Rights in A vs. UK
[2]The definition of corruption used is that of Amnesty International; Transparency International; The Internacional Council on Human Rights Policy; Edgardo Buscaglia and Jan van Dijk, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer and Officer-in-Charge, Human Security Branch, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Controlling Organized Crime and Corruption in the Public Sector; inter alía.
[3] Posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/64031
[i] The Convention of ConsularRelations states
“Article 2 Establishment of consular relations
1. The establishment of consular relations between States takes place by mutual consent.
2. The consent given to the establishment of diplomatic relations between two States implies, unless otherwise stated, consent to the establishment of consular relations.
3. The severance of diplomatic relations shall not ipso facto involve the severance of consular relations.
Art. 5 Consular functions consist in:
(a) protecting in the receiving State the interests of the sending State and of its nationals, both individuals and bodies corporate, within the limits permitted by international law;
(h) safeguarding, within the limits imposed by the laws and regulations of the receiving State, the interests of minors and other persons lacking full capacity who are nationals of the sending State, particularly where any guardianship or trusteeship is required with respect to such persons;
(i) subject to the practices and procedures obtaining in the receiving State, representing or arranging appropriate representation for nationals of the sending State before the tribunals and other authorities of the receiving State, for the purpose of obtaining, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the receiving State, provisional measures for the preservation of the rights and interests of these nationals, where, because of absence or any other reason, such nationals are unable at the proper time to assume the defence of their rights and interests;
(j) transmitting judicial and extrajudicial documentsor executing letters rogatory or commissions to take evidence for the courts of the sending State in accordance with international agreements in force or, in the absence of such international agreements, in any other manner compatible with the laws and regulations of the receiving State;
(m) performing any other functions entrusted to a consular post by the sending State which are not prohibited by the laws and regulations of the receiving State or to which no objection is taken by the receiving State or which are referred to in the international agreements in force between the sending State and the receiving State.”
Article 36
Communication and contact with nationals of the sending State
1.With a view to facilitating the exercise of consular functions relating to nationals of the sending State:
(a) consular officers shall be free to communicate with nationals of the sending State and to have access to them. Nationals of the sending State shall have the same freedom with respect to communication with and access to consular officers of the sending State;
(b) if he so requests, the competent authorities of the receiving State shall, without delay, inform the consular post of the sending State if, within its consular district, a national of that State is arrested or committed to prison or to custody pending trial or is detained in any other manner. Any communication addressed to the consular post by the person arrested, in prison, custody or detention shall be forwarded by the said authorities without delay. The said authorities shall inform the person concerned without delay of his rights under this subparagraph;
(c) consular officers shall have the right to visit a national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation. They shall also have the right to visit any national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention in their district in pursuance of a judgement. Nevertheless, consular officers shall refrain from taking action on behalf of a national who is in prison, custody or detention if he expressly opposes such action.
2.The rights referred to in paragraph 1 of this article shall be exercised in conformity with the laws and regulations of the receiving State, subject to the proviso, however, that the said laws and regulations must enable full effect to be given to the purposes for which the rights accorded under this article are intended.
Article 37
Information in cases of deaths, guardianship or trustees ship, wrecks and air accidents. If the relevant information is available to the competent authorities of the receiving State, such authorities shall have the duty:
(a) in the case of the death of a national of the sending State, to inform without delay the consular post in whose district the death occurred;
(b) to inform the competent consular post without delay of any case where the appointment of a guardian or trustee appears to be in the interests of a minor or other person lacking full capacity who is a national of the sending State. The giving of this information shall, however, be without prejudice to the operation of the laws and regulations of the receiving State concerning such appointments;
(c) if a vessel, having the nationality of the sending State, is wrecked or runs aground in the territorial sea or internal waters of the receiving State, or if an aircraft registered in the sending State suffers an accident on the territory of the receiving State, to inform without delay the consular post nearest to the scene of the occurrence.
Article 38
Communication with the authorities of the receiving State In the exercise of their functions, consular officers may address:
(a) the competent local authorities of their consular district;
(b) the competent central authorities of the receiving State if and to the extent that this is allowed by the laws, regulations and usages of the receiving State or by the relevant international agreements.