Please find below letters sent to members of the Trump Administration in 2017, and the Obama Administration in the past 8 years; requesting that President Trump make good on his promise to “Drain the Swamp.” If everyone in “The Swamp” had been doing as I have instructed in the past decade, “The Swamp” would have been “Drained” long ago!! Please see below, a sampling of letters to public authorities in the past years detailing exactly what actions they needed to be taking in order to fulfill their legal obligation to protect and defend the rights of citizens, particularly the most vulnerable, women and children.
RE: Domestic abuse as a human rights violation, and a State’s obligation to protect
Dear Mr. Secretary,
I am contacting you regarding an issue that is receiving increasing awareness amongst communities around the world; domestic abuse and violence as a human rights violation and a State’s obligation to protect under the principle of due diligence, as establish by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Gonzales vs. USA and Velasquez vs. Honduras, and the European Courts of Human Rights in A vs. UK.
Under international law, a State may be responsible for acts of violence against women committed by non-state actors if it fails with due diligence to prevent, stop and investigate acts of violence, punish perpetrators and provide compensation to the victims, as specified in General Recommendation 19 (1992) of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The legal concept of due diligence clarifies the responsibility of States to make women’s rights a reality. This responsibility is enshrined within the established requirement of exercising due diligence to respect, protect, fulfill and promote human rights. Exercising due diligence includes actions with respect to prevention, investigation of violations of human rights that have occurred and prosecution of perpetrators through fair proceedings. It also requires that adequate reparations be made to victims, including compensation, justice and ‘rehabilitation’. [1]
Decreasing the prevalence of violence against women requires challenging its acceptance, especially the many ways in which victims/survivors are blamed and perpetrators excused, transforming the diverse cultures of complicity and impunity across the globe.
The failure of justice systems across the globe to effectively charge, investigate and prosecute human rights violations against women and girls has resulted in a system of global impunity for perpetrators, which must be urgently addressed.[2]
The right not to be abused must be absolute. States have the responsibility to address all violations of women’s human rights that take place on their territory and/or are committed by [or against] their citizens in extra-territorial contexts. [3]
One out of every three women, or almost 1 billion women around the world, experiences domestic abuse during her life-time, with the following global consequences and health-related issues:
40-70% of women murdered each year are killed by intimate partners[4]
Over 64 million women each year suffer intentional and unintentional injuries[5]
Over 100 million women each year suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders[6]
Over 100 million maternal and perinatal conditions and complications occur[7]
20 million people are victims of human trafficking[8]
Widespread sexual harassment and bullying in the work-place, schools, and communities
The enormity of the problem and its detrimental effects on societies around the world are of epic proportions, and can no longer be considered “private matters” or “civil disputes” by law enforcement officials, judicial tribunals, or government and non-government agencies.
As my own case and research[9] demonstrates, until and unless judicial actors are held accountable for their failure to execute their duties and obligations as provided for under the law, progressive laws, government promises, and millions of dollars spent on awareness and action campaigns will be totally ineffective in eradicating domestic abuse and violence.
The US government and US State Department are continually espousing their commitment to combating and ending violence and discrimination against women, promoting democratic principles worldwide, and protecting human rights and labor rights around the world.[i][ii] However, when it comes to American women living overseas and the US State Department, Consular Affairs Division’s day-to-day operations, the rhetoric does not translate into reality.
As so many advocates, I have become aware of and involved in the issues due to my own personal experience as a victim of domestic abuse, and re-victimization by the very judicial systems (in Spain) which have a duty and obligation under international human rights law to protect me and my children.[10]
The US State Department estimates that 5.25 million Americans reside abroad, with 650,000 women and children at risk of becoming victims of domestic abuse and violence.[11] In 2012 the American Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center (AODVC – www.866uswomen.org) handled 3005 crisis calls, emails & live chats directly from, or on behalf of 547 victims (544 females, 3 males) in 57 countries (UK, Canada, Costa Rica, Turkey, Russia, UAE, Germany, Pakistan, Switzerland, Croatia, being the most frequent.) Ninety-nine of these cases were affected by the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, which represents 29% of incoming Hague abduction cases handled by the Office of Child’s Issues of the US State Department in 2012. At year-end of 2012 AODVC was handling 124 on-going cases.
As reported by the Hague Convention Domestic Violence Project (www.haguedv.org/reports) 70% of women involved in international child abduction cases under the Hague Convention are fleeing domestic abuse and the failure of judicial systems to protect them and their children. Abbott vs. Abbott (2010) (www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-645.pdf) brought these issues to the attention of the US Supreme Court.
Between 2010-2012 the Office of Child’s Issues, Consular Division of the US State Department handled 890 incoming Hague Convention on international child abduction cases, with up to 70%, or 623 cases,[12] potentially involving a protective parent fleeing domestic abuse and a Receiving State’s failure to protect. While I have been unable to obtain figures from the US State Department on the annual budget for the Office of Child’s Issues, the 2012 budget for “Strengthening Consular and Management Capabilities” was $3.75 billion. [13] Effectively, millions of dollars per year of the Consular Affairs Division’s budget are used in supporting the on-going abuse of thousands of Americans,[14] while none of their resources are being used to assist the victims.
Abusers are well aware of the criminal implications, the stringent sanctions, and incarceration of those who resort to international child abduction, and are freely and frequently using the Hague Convention as a tool to intimidate and abuse their victims. They do so knowing full well that victims will not be assisted by Receiving State’s judicial and law enforcement systems, nor will they be assisted by Sending State’s Consulates, consular affairs division in Sending State’s headquarters, or Sending State’s judicial system, which are plagued by the same “failure to protect” due to the same “lack of diligence” as in the Receiving State.
In my own my ex-husband repeatedly assure me from the onset that I would be left penniless and incarcerated (prison or psychiatric facility); claiming that all “had been planned.” At the time, I thought his contention was just another example of his schizophrenic, hallucinatory state. But, statistics and documented testimonies show that this is an increasing phenomenon amongst victims of domestic abuse. In my own case all of my assets were illegally misappropriated by the courts and the negligence of my legal counsel, with my incarceration a very real possibility on several occasions.
Then, when I confronted my lawyers (recommended on the American Embassy website) with their overt negligent actions and the violation of my rights, I was always told “Lady, we do this all the time. Who are you going to tell?” And, effectively my petition to the Defensor del Pueblo, Consejo General del Poder Judicial and Instituto de Mujer for an investigation into my case and allegations was totally ignored, even though the professional and criminal negligence of implicated parties is well detailed, documented, and argued (posted on http://worldpulse.com/node/52011 and http://worldpulse.com/node/50602, respectively.)
The culture of “laissez faire” and silencing of victims, apathy of law enforcement and judicial actors towards the plight of victims, failure of judicial regulatory agencies to diligently investigate complaints & sanction infractions of judicial actors, coupled with consular affairs representatives’ non-compliance with art. 5, 36, 37 & 38 of the Convention on Consular Relations and FAM guidelines (victims of crimes/domestic abuse), inter alia, provide the motive, opportunity, and means for abusers to utilize judicial systems and government institutions to freely and overtly continue abusing and harassing their victims.[15]
Of additional importance for the US government and US State Department, as my particular case demonstrates, is how American entrepreneurs in their business dealings abroad are open to corruption and discrimination in foreign courts. And, how the lack of due diligence by, and apathy of, US State Department officials permit unfair trade practices and misappropriation of American assets by foreign courts.
As the American Consulate in Madrid has been aware from the beginning of my case, the escalation of violence and threats upon my life by my ex-husband’s were caused by my desire and efforts to provide financial independence for me and my children. My company, Global Expats (www.global-xpats.com) is modeled after the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO), but is a revenue-generating entity which remunerates its trailing spouse managers and employees, as well as assistants them in career maintenance and entrepreneurial efforts. Revenues are generated from a networking/local search-city guide global website with estimate lost opportunity costs at $200 million to date.
The disinterest and negligence of the American Consulate in Madrid and US State Department, Office of American Citizen Services and Crisis Management in Washington, DC, in the past 6 years and in regard to my case, has not only been responsibility for millions of dollars in lost revenues of my company, but prevented the creation of hundreds of jobs of American women living abroad.
International organizations such as the IMF,[16] World Bank,[17] and United Nations[18] are increasingly examining the link between corruption and the present economic crisis. My case provided a perfect case-study on how and why widespread corruption in the courts impedes economic growth and entrepreneurial development, and the role negligent governance by regulatory agencies is playing in promoting judicial corruption.[19]
In order to effectively protect and promote the interests of Americans living abroad, it is imperative that American Embassies and Consulates abroad comply with the guidelines in U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 7 – Consular Affairs (FAM), and utilize their prerogatives provided for in art. 5, 36, 37 & 38 of the Convention of Consular Affairs, and other international treaties, in assuring due process and respect for the rights of American citizens in foreign jurisdictions.
I hope by bringing these issues to your attention the US State Department will reassess their policy of non-compliance with FAM, the Convention on Consular Affairs, and other international treaties which provide them with the power and authority to promote and defend the interests and rights of Americans living abroad.
I thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Please feel free to contact me at Quenby@global-xpats.com or (202) 213-4911 with any questions or requests for additional information.
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
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Jim D. Pettit, Overseas Citizens Services, US State Department
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, Embassy of the United States Spain
[1] “Good Practices in Combating and Eliminating Violence Against Women” Expert Group Meeting Organized by: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women in collaboration with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 17 to 20 May 2005 Vienna, Austria, p.4.
[2] “Good Practices in Combating and Eliminating Violence Against Women” Expert Group Meeting Organized by: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women in collaboration with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 17 to 20 May 2005 Vienna, Austria, p 12.
[3] “Good Practices in Combating and Eliminating Violence Against Women” Expert Group Meeting Organized by: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women in collaboration with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 17 to 20 May 2005 Vienna, Austria, p.3.
[4]Women and Health : Today’s Evidence Tomorrow’s Agenda, World Health Organization 2009, p. 56.
[5]WHO Global Burden of Disease 2004 Report, p. 64 – World Health Organization
[6]WHO Global Burden of Disease 2004 Report, p. 62 – World Health Organization
[7]WHO Global Burden of Disease 2004 Report, p. 60 – World Health Organization
[9] Reports (Domestic Abuse as a Human Rights Violation and the Principle of Due Diligence – Spain a Case Study, Abuses of Power in Our Societies and Court Systems, and Sexual Abuse of Children and the Failure of Family Courts to Protect by Quenby Wilcox,) official complaints to Spanish government agencies (Defensor del Pueblo, Consejo General del Poder Judicial, and Instituto de Mujer in regards to González de Alcalá vs. Wilcox – juzgado de Mostoles and legal counsel of Quenby Wilcox) with supporting documentation is posted on http://worldpulse.com/user/2759/journal and http://worldpulse.com/user/2759/journal?page=1
[11] Extrapolated from estimates in Women and Health: Today’s Evidence Tomorrow’s Agenda, World Health Organization 2009, p. 56.
[12] The Office of Child’s Issues does not compile or retain gender statistics in its reporting of incoming or outgoing cases. Therefore, I have used the common and repeatedly reported rate of 70% for “State failure to protect” (Amnesty International, American State Bar Associations, inter alia)
[13] Consolidating Schedule of Net Costs, US Department of State Fiscal Year 2012 Agency Financial Report, p. 116
[14] Each year the Office of Child’s Issues deals with an average of 300 incoming cases with abused children, which are then condemned to living with the abusive parent for 10-16 years +. (My own children are 19 and 21, but until they are financially self-sufficient, or until I am financially solvent, they cannot defy their father’s order to have no contact with me.)
[15] The traditions and customs that for centuries have been used to silence dissent against government abuses of power are being used to silence the dissent of women and children who defy and denounce the abuses of power within the home.
[19] The importance of the role that government agencies play in assuring transparency, integrity and accountability of the industry it regulates is clearly demonstrated in Governance of Financial Supervisors and its Effects – A Stocktaking Exercise by Marc Quintyn http://ideas.repec.org/b/erf/erfstu/47.html.
The protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. Since then, a central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been the promotion of respect for human rights, as embodied in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights.The United States understands that the existence of human rights helps secure the peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies, and prevent humanitarian crises.
Because the promotion of human rights is an important national interest, the United States seeks to:
Hold governments accountable to their obligations under universal human rights norms and international human rights instruments;
Promote greater respect for human rights, including freedom from torture, freedom of expression, press freedom, women’s rights, children’s rights, and the protection of minorities;
Promote the rule of law, seek accountability, and change cultures of impunity;
Assist efforts to reform and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Commission on Human Rights; and
Coordinate human rights activities with important allies, including the EU, and regional organizations.
DRL strives to learn the truth and state the facts in all of its human rights investigations, reports on country conditions, speeches and votes in the UN, and asylum profiles
DRL takes consistent positions concerning past, present, and future abuses. With regard to past abuses, it actively promotes accountability.
DRL forges and maintains partnerships with organizations, governments, and multilateral institutions committed to human right. [i]
We are dedicated to combating both overt and subtle forms of racism and discrimination internationally. The United States is party to the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and is committed to seeing the goals of this covenant fully realized. Particular emphasis should be placed not only on eliminating any remaining legal barriers to equality, but also on confronting the reality of continuing discrimination and inequality within institutions and societies.
Patrick F. Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, US State Department,
Statement to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Advantages to the USA in complying with the
Convention of Consular Affairs in their assistance to American’s living abroad
The protection of U.S. citizens abroad ranks among the Secretary’s and the Department’s absolute highest priorities
Without guaranteed consular assistance, Americans cannot travel the world freely, safely, and with peace of mind
When a U.S. citizen finds him or herself in a foreign government’s custody, a consular officer is often the best, and sometimes only, resource that citizen has as he or she navigates a foreign legal system
We find these services especially critical in countries that do not respect due process of law and fundamental rights
Ensuring compliance with our legal obligations is essential to our foreign relations and close bilateral relationships
Our treaties are critical to protecting U.S. sovereign interests… facilitate our businesses’ international economic relationships.
Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion for the Court recognized that judgment as a binding international legal obligation, and agreed that the United States’ interests in observance of the Vienna Convention, in protecting relations with foreign governments, and in demonstrating commitment to the international rule of law through compliance with that judgment were ―plainly compelling
United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally
“We also know that countries are more likely to prosper when they tap the talents of all their people. And that’s why we’re investing in the health, education and rights of women, and working to empower the next generation of women entrepreneurs and leaders. Because when mothers and daughters have access to opportunity, that’s when economies grow, that’s when governance improves.” – President Barack Obama, Remarks at the Millennium Development Goals Summit, United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York, September 22, 2010
“Around the globe, violence against women is an epidemic. Violence robs women and girls of their full potential and causes untold human suffering. Violence against women impedes economic development, threatens peace and prosperity, and inhibits full participation in civic life. For every woman who has been beaten in her own home, for the millions of women who have been raped as a weapon of war, for every girl who has been attacked on her way to school, for all of the children–girls and boys–who have witnessed this brutality, we must do better.” – Vice President Joe Biden, Statement on the Anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, November 24, 2010
“It is time for all of us to assume our responsibility to go beyond condemning this behavior, to taking concrete steps to end it, to make it sociably unacceptable, to recognize it is not cultural; it is criminal.” – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Remarks on the Adoption of a United Nations Security Council Resolution to Combat Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York, September 30, 2009
[ii]Mechanisms to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence
The Department of State will employ various mechanisms to ensure a coordinated process for enhanced intra- and inter-agency coordination on addressing gender-based violence. The mechanisms outlined below mirror the framework detailed in the Secretary’s Policy Guidance on Promoting Gender Equality, and will be integrated across existing coordinating bodies on gender issues, both in Washington and within embassies and missions.
Strategic and Budget Planning
Under the Secretary’s Policy Guidance, relevant Department of State bureaus and embassies will develop strategies to promote gender equality and advance the status of women and girls across geographic regions and functional bureaus. Bureau and country strategies to address gender issues will be developed as part of the Department of State’s ongoing strategic planning and budgeting process. Strategies will be grounded in analysis of existing inequalities and focused on action items that the Department and embassies can advance in both near-term and longer-term timeframes. To implement the strategy on gender-based violence, the Department of State will:
Review relevant functional bureau strategic plans to ensure that gender-based violence is adequately addressed; and
Request that relevant regional bureaus and embassies include specific gender-based violence issues within their strategic plans, as applicable to specific country or regional contexts.
Guided by newly-revised definitions and guidance to bureaus and embassies, current budget processes have been strengthened to more accurately represent budget levels for the following Key Issue areas: gender equality/women’s empowerment (both primary and secondary attribution), gender-based violence, and women, peace, and security. The process informs the annual Congressional Budget Justification in these critical areas and serves to advance gender equality through both direct and integrated approaches. United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally 31
Policy and Programming
Embassies and bureaus will strive to ensure that the full range of U.S. policy and assistance programming identifies and addresses existing gender disparities, capitalizes on the unique skills and contributions of women and girls, and is accessible and responsive to ongoing challenges confronted by women and girls. In order to further this agenda on issues specific to gender-based violence, the Department of State will: Establish an intra-agency working group, consisting of representatives from a wide range of bureaus and offices across the Department, to assist in internal coordination and integration of gender-based violence prevention and response in Department programming and policies.
The working group will share information and establish priorities, as well as coordinate existing policies and programs to eliminate gaps and effectively maximize existing resources.
Through existing policy and diplomatic mechanisms and programming, including the Secretary’s International Fund for Women and Girls and S/GWI, the Department of State will: Advocate for development and implementation of laws and policies in other countries to monitor, prevent, and respond to gender-based violence. This includes work to strengthen institutions and support partner governments’ efforts to develop appropriate legislation, harmonize laws and other provisions in the legal code, develop action plans for implementation, and help train oversight of and advocacy for implementation of the laws; Support capacity-building of and outreach to civil society, including the media, criminal justice sector, and health providers; Support civil society and community-level approaches to change behaviors and attitudes concerning violence and to facilitate discussion among families, community organizations, and religious, traditional, and other community leaders around human rights and gender-based violence, and effective ways to address these issues. Through these community level approaches, the Department will aim to target and engage:
Men and boys;
Female leaders and women’s groups;
Religious, faith-based, and community leaders; and
Youth
Build off existing platforms (GHI, PEPFAR, etc.) and scale up programs that have been found effective, contingent on resources. This could include programs that integrate screening of and response to gender-based violence into health service delivery programs, as well as psychosocial support where feasible; or programs that require health and life skills programming for adolescent and pre-adolescent girls and boys, for example to address sexual coercion and abuse and promote elements of healthy relationships; Establish multi-sector linkages regarding violence prevention and response programs, with particular attention to the legal/judicial system and the education and economic sectors; and Address the causes, including root causes, of gender-based violence, especially violence against women and girls. This includes reducing barriers between women and men and girls and boys in economic, political, and civic arenas and implementing initiatives that protect human rights and raise societies’ respect and value for all women and girls, including inclusive education and economic empowerment opportunities.
EVERYONE IN THE IMF, WORLD BANK, AND UNITED NATIONS SHOULD BE READING THIS DOCUMENT AND HEEDING THEIR OWN WORDS
Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power
The General Assembly,
Recalling that the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders recommended that the United Nations should continue its present work on the development of guidelines and standards regarding abuse of economic and political power,
Cognizant that millions of people throughout the world suffer harm as a result of crime and the abuse of power and that the rights of these victims have not been adequately recognized,
Recognizing that the victims of crime and the victims of abuse of power, and also frequently their families, witnesses and others who aid them, are unjustly subjected to loss, damage or injury and that they may, in addition, suffer hardship when assisting in the prosecution of offenders,
Affirms the necessity of adopting national and international measures in order to secure the universal and effective recognition of, and respect for, the rights of victims of crime and of abuse of power;
Stresses the need to promote progress by all States in their efforts to that end, without prejudice to the rights of suspects or offenders;
Adopts the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, annexed to the present resolution, which is designed to assist Governments and the international community in their efforts to secure justice and assistance for victims of crime and victims of abuse of power;
Calls upon Member States to take the necessary steps to give effect to the provisions contained in the Declaration and, in order to curtail victimization as referred to hereinafter, endeavour:
(a) To implement social, health, including mental health, educational, economic and specific crime prevention policies to reduce victimization and encourage assistance to victims in distress;
(b) To promote community efforts and public participation in crime prevention;
(c) To review periodically their existing legislation and practices in order to ensure responsiveness to changing circumstances, and to enact and enforce legislation proscribing acts that violate internationally recognized norms relating to human rights, corporate conduct, and other abuses of power;
(d) To establish and strengthen the means of detecting, prosecuting and sentencing those guilty of crimes;
(e) To promote disclosure of relevant information to expose official and corporate conduct to public scrutiny, and other ways of increasing responsiveness to public concerns;
(f) To promote the observance of codes of conduct and ethical norms, in particular international standards, by public servants, including law enforcement, correctional, medical, social service and military personnel, as well as the staff of economic enterprises;
(g) To prohibit practices and procedures conducive to abuse, such as secret places of detention and incommunicado detention;
(h) To co-operate with other States, through mutual judicial and administrative assistance, in such matters as the detection and pursuit of offenders, their extradition and the seizure of their assets, to be used for restitution to the victims;
Recommends that, at the international and regional levels, all appropriate measures should be taken:
(a) To promote training activities designed to foster adherence to United Nations standards and norms and to curtail possible abuses;
(b) To sponsor collaborative action-research on ways in which victimization can be reduced and victims aided, and to promote information exchanges on the most effective means of so doing;
(c) To render direct aid to requesting Governments designed to help them curtail victimization and alleviate the plight of victims;
(d) To develop ways and means of providing recourse for victims where national channels may be insufficient;
Requests the Secretary-General to invite Member States to report periodically to the General Assembly on the implementation of the Declaration, as well as on measures taken by them to this effect;
Also requests the Secretary-General to make use of the opportunities, which all relevant bodies and organizations within the United Nations system offer, to assist Member States, whenever necessary, in improving ways and means of protecting victims both at the national level and through international co-operation;
Further requests the Secretary-General to promote the objectives of the Declaration, in particular by ensuring its widest possible dissemination;
Urges the specialized agencies and other entities and bodies of the United Nations system, other relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the public to co-operate in the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration.
ANNEX
Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power
Victims of Crime
“Victims” means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.
A person may be considered a victim, under this Declaration, regardless of whether the perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the familial relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The term “victim” also includes, where appropriate, the immediate family or dependants of the direct victim and persons who have suffered harm in intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent victimization.
The provisions contained herein shall be applicable to all, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, age, language, religion, nationality, political or other opinion, cultural beliefs or practices, property, birth or family status, ethnic or social origin, and disability.
Access to justice and fair treatment
Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They are entitled to access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as provided for by national legislation, for the harm that they have suffered.
Judicial and administrative mechanisms should be established and strengthened where necessary to enable victims to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that are expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible. Victims should be informed of their rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms.
The responsiveness of judicial and administrative processes to the needs of victims should be facilitated by:
(a) Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the proceedings and of the disposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes are involved and where they have requested such information;
(b) Allowing the views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of the proceedings where their personal interests are affected, without prejudice to the accused and consistent with the relevant national criminal justice system;
(c) Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal process;
(d) Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy, when necessary, and ensure their safety, as well as that of their families and witnesses on their behalf, from intimidation and retaliation;
(e) Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of orders or decrees granting awards to victims.
Informal mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, including mediation, arbitration and customary justice or indigenous practices, should be utilized where appropriate to facilitate conciliation and redress for victims.
Restitution
Offenders or third parties responsible for their behaviour should, where appropriate, make fair restitution to victims, their families or dependants. Such restitution should include the return of property or payment for the harm or loss suffered, reimbursement of expenses incurred as a result of the victimization, the provision of services and the restoration of rights.
Governments should review their practices, regulations and laws to consider restitution as an available sentencing option in criminal cases, in addition to other criminal sanctions.
In cases of substantial harm to the environment, restitution, if ordered, should include, as far as possible, restoration of the environment, reconstruction of the infrastructure, replacement of community facilities and reimbursement of the expenses of relocation, whenever such harm results in the dislocation of a community.
Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity have violated national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the State whose officials or agents were responsible for the harm inflicted. In cases where the Government under whose authority the victimizing act or omission occurred is no longer in existence, the State or Government successor in title should provide restitution to the victims.
Compensation
When compensation is not fully available from the offender or other sources, States should endeavour to provide financial compensation to:
(a) Victims who have sustained significant bodily injury or impairment of physical or mental health as a result of serious crimes;
(b) The family, in particular dependants of persons who have died or become physically or mentally incapacitated as a result of such victimization.
The establishment, strengthening and expansion of national funds for compensation to victims should be encouraged. Where appropriate, other funds may also be established for this purpose, including those cases where the State of which the victim is a national is not in a position to compensate the victim for the harm.
Assistance
Victims should receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance through governmental, voluntary, community-based and indigenous means.
Victims should be informed of the availability of health and social services and other relevant assistance and be readily afforded access to them.
Police, justice, health, social service and other personnel concerned should receive training to sensitize them to the needs of victims, and guidelines to ensure proper and prompt aid.
In providing services and assistance to victims, attention should be given to those who have special needs because of the nature of the harm inflicted or because of factors such as those mentioned in paragraph 3 above.
Victims of abuse of power
“Victims” means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that do not yet constitute violations of national criminal laws but of internationally recognized norms relating to human rights.
States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses of power and providing remedies to victims of such abuses. In particular, such remedies should include restitution and/or compensation, and necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance and support.
States should consider negotiating multilateral international treaties relating to victims, as defined in paragraph 18.
States should periodically review existing legislation and practices to ensure their responsiveness to changing circumstances, should enact and enforce, if necessary, legislation proscribing acts that constitute serious abuses of political or economic power, as well as promoting policies and mechanisms for the prevention of such acts, and should develop and make readily available appropriate rights and remedies for victims of such acts.
Thank you for your time yesterday afternoon. I greatly appreciated it.
Per our conversation, please find below a copy of the emails I sent to Mark Plant, Director of HR at the IMF, regarding bulllying in the IMF. As I explained, the issue at present is the position of Director of Development at Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), which is currently held by Anne-Beatrix Keller Semadeni. Ms. Keller was the Chair of the IMFFA from October 2009 to April 2011. My tenure with the IMFFA (as an employee of Global Employment/Career Blazers) was from May 2009 to February 2011, at which time Ms. Keller prematurely terminated my contract, which expired at the end of April 2011.
As I explained, Ms. Keller used many of my ideas for Global Expats / www.global-xpat.com for the IMFFA, which, as I state in the attached complaint is not at issue. The problem arose, and exists, because Ms. Keller was promoting my ideas as her own within IMF HR, all the while telling IMF HR that I was useless, incompetent, etc., (and requesting my termination from the IMFFA board, which they refused because I was “the best person they had ever had at the IMFFA” ). In relation to my termination, it was my understanding from Ms. Yvonne Rivera of Global Employment that Ms. Keller had told IMF HR that for 4 months I had been declaring overtime, which was unauthorized by her and/or falsely declared on my part. This is totally false, with all documentation included in the attached complaint.
What Ms. Keller told IMF HR was very different from the story she told me when she prematurely and illegally fired me in 2011. She told me. that it was because my “situation” (a victim of domestic abuse and/or legal abuse) made IMFFA members “uncomfortable.” When she told me this I responded “We’ll I’m not having a great time here either. I can assure you. This is not by choice. Do you know what you are doing is highly illegal?” She said she did not care. She was giving me 2 weeks notice. She sent an email to the entire IMFFA members about my “departure,” and informed the IMFFA board that she was leaving for 2 weeks to Switzerland, and would be unreachable by phone or email.
As I told you in our conversation, I was later given temp assignments in the IMF, so I never took issue with what Ms. Keller did. I had always intended to include what occurred in my complaint to Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which follows up on Gonzalez Carreno vs. Spain, 2014, (2nd jurisprudence recognizing violence against women as a human rights violation), as well as clarify any misinformation Ms. Keller had transmitted to IMF HR about me at a later date.
However, as I explained, it is not possible that Ms. Keller obtained a position as Director of Development in such a prestigious NGO; one that was initiated by Ralph Nader, and whose board of Advisors includes Joseph Stiglitz (former chief economist at the World Bank, and 2 time Nobel prize winner), with just my ideas for Global Expats incorporated into IMFFA. I can only surmise that Ms. Keller is also espousing many of my socio-economic theories, which are posted on my blogs on Huffington Post, Womenalia, Linkedin and Reuters Foundation (as well as www.global-xpats.com). As I told you, I do have a certain natural “talent” for understanding international socio-economic issues, and in the past 8 years have been examining the domestic violence/violence against women (DV/VAW), the women’s rights and the human rights movements of the past 50-60 years. As I further explained, I am very much lobbying the IMF and the World Bank on many of the issues I am exploring, and exposing. In fact, the World Bank has an enormous data base on VAW issues at an international level, but states that they lack information at national levels. What my research does is basically bridge the gap between the DV NGOs at a national level, and the VAW at the international level. The World Bank has an department called, Women, Business, and Law, which is interested in my work, as I am interested in theirs.
As I further explained to you, the issues I am dealing with (corruption in the courts, domestic violence, bullying in the workplace, etc.) are issue people in my family tree have been dealing with for centuries, and in my blogs I use parallels from Thomas Wilcox, co-author of the Puritan Manifesto (Admonitions to Parliament), John Paul Jones as an American hero, as well as a British pirate, and will be be using analogies from WWII and Winston Churchill, and John Dickinson and the American Constitution, and his other writings. Additionally, as I explained my reports are extremely thorough, meticulous, and voluminous, as is my activism website www.warondomesticterrorism.com. I can assure you there is absolutely no doubt as to who is the originator, and author, of my ideas and theories. I call particular attention to my background material for my CEDAW presentation, Financing for Development (FfD): A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Additionally, people across the Internet, and within the global mobility industry have known about my project, and legal problems with the Spanish courts for the past 8 years.
Additionally, please see my Linkedin profile against that of Ms. Keller’s profile. Ms. Keller is French national from Tunisia, who obtained a Bachelors of Arts in Aix-en-Provence, and translating diplomas in Geneva, where she obviously met her husband, an economist with the IMF, whose career has sent them to Cameroon and Togo. Ms. Keller has no professional experience other than a free-lance, part-time translator, and her 1-year tenure as president, and 2-year tenure as Teen Summer Program and Career Networking committee chair in the IMFFA. Additionally, never in my life have I seen such chaos and disaster created in an workplace by one person, as I observed with Ms. Keller as Chair of the IMFFA. Ms. Keller has no organizational skills, and she micro-manages and bullies those with whom she works. She also lacks any kind of integrity or ethics. One of the greatest problems with ‘Expat Wives Clubs’ such as IMFFA (www.fawco.org, and www.fiafe.org are 2 other examples) is that modern women want to be remunerated for their work. So these associations are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit competent and ethical managers to serve on their boards. A large portion of women serve on these boards for the social status it affords them, and in that it helps their husband’s careers– as seen in the case of Mr. Werner Keller who was given a position as Resident Representative in Togo West Africa after Ms. Keller’s tenure as Chair.
As I explained in our conversation, it is my greatest desire to have my good name restored to me, as well as what is rightfully mine — in this case to be considered for the position of Director of Development with KEI. My last communication to Mr. Plant was last Thursday, March 31st. I have not heard back from him, so I can only assume the IMF wishes me to contact the Director of KEI, James Love directly concerning Ms. Keller’s dishonesty and unethical behavior. Since I was an employee of Global Employment during my tenure with IMFFA, I wanted to notify them of the situation, and request any assistance they might provide in the matter. Unfortunately, since all of this involves my inability to move forward with Global Expats, this does implicate Global Employment in my $10-20B lawsuit against the Spanish government, with the US and French government as accessories, and now the IMF as accessories.
I am sure that if KEI has not yet realized what an impostor Ms. Keller is, they soon will. So I do want to contact them quickly, before they initiate any efforts to find someone to replace Ms. Keller. If by next week I still have received no word from the IMF as to how they wish to proceed, I will be obligated to contact KEI directly
Thank you again for you time.
Best Regards,
Quenby
—-
From: Quenby Wilcox <quenbywilcox2@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 8:07 PM
Subject: Fwd: Complaint for Bullying in the Workplace – Quenby Wilcox
To: Ethics <ethics@imf.org>
Dear Ethic Officer,
I am contacting you regarding updates on my previous complaint, dated March 8, 2016.
In the past month, I have further researched the NGO where Ms. Anne-Beatrix Keller is employed at present. Its name is Knowledge Ecology International (KEI). When I first saw that Ms. Keller was Director of Development at a small local DC NGO in February 2016, I thought it was just another useless, ‘window-dressing’[1] NGO and think-tank in the Washington area. However, not only is it not an insignificant, unimportant NGO in DC, but it is a Ralph Nader initiative, with Joseph Stiglitz (former chief-economist at the World Bank and two time Nobel prize winner in economics), on its Advisory board. (Also, my research at present focuses on Laura Nader’s books Law and Culture in Society and The Life of Law.)
Please see my emails below to Mark Plant regarding my original complaint, as well as my follow-up email regarding Ms. Keller’s unethical and illegal actions. Since I have not heard back from Mr. Plant (as to the IMF contacting KEI, or myself) I have brought the matter to the attention of Global Employment. This employment agency was my employer during my time at the IMFFA, and therefore is also implicated in the intellectual property theft and human rights violations of Ms. Keller, IMFFA and the IMF, as well as the ensuing financial damages. If Global Employment does not act in a timely manner, I will be propelled to contact KEI directly, as well as the press.
However, what is perhaps even more problematic than the actions of the IMFFA and IMF in the case at hand, is the fact that not only has IMFFA been involved in unethical activity, but it is misrepresenting the safety and security of women and children in the USA, and “enticing” women and children to cross international borders under false pretexts; elevating the situation to human-trafficking.
The fact that ‘Expat Wives Clubs’ such as IMFFA and FAWCO are misrepresenting the protection women and children receive in court systems while living abroad, and in reality espousing propaganda and misinformation designed to deceive; renders them complicit to the human rights violation of host country governments. Not only are they covering-up for the human rights violations documented in my own case against IMFFA, but also in the case of the FAWCO UN Team. (For example, please see their blog Gender Justice is a Human Imperative calling for women to “change the paradigm,” vs. my report FfD: Midsummer Night’s Dream. FAWCO participates in UN “human rights” initiatives, all the while promoting domestic violence, with empty rhetoric ‘window-dressing’ programs and initiatives, that are more effective at silencing victims than assisting them.)
As is the case with IMFFA, FAWCO board members, have been thoroughly informed as to the rampant corruption in family courts around the world, and the dire situation of these victims. However, just like their DV counterparts in the USA, American Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center (AODVCC) and National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV),DV LEAP of GWU, etc., are espousing false rhetoric about the integrity and accountability in the courts, luring women and children into false perceptions about their safety, security, and rights—and thereby agreeing to an international relocation.
While I realize that many people involved are well meaning and with good intentions. However, with women and children being raped, beaten and tortured in the countries around the world, and with lawyers and courts systematically encouraging and supporting that violence, and court corruption – good intentions are simply not enough. The legal profession at present is riffed with corruption, negligence, and gender-bias, with the governments and international community turning a blind eye to the situation. Lawyers and judges in family courts around the world are indiscriminately, and systematically violating the rights of woman and children in the same way the Nazi’s persecuted the Jews, and African Americans were persecuted under the Klu Klux Klan. Until these judicial actors are held accountable for their illegal actions, corruption in Western courts (estimated at rates of 70-90% ), will continue to escalate; further aggravating all of the socio-economic forces that have created the global economic crisis, as well as prevent it from a real recovery.
Sincerely,
Quenby Wilcox
From: Quenby Wilcox <quenbywilcox2@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 1:32 PM
Subject: Complaint Against IMFFA – Implicated NGO w/ Ms. Keller – Knowledge Ecology Intl. – Nader Initiative – Joseph Stiglitz Advisor
To: mplant@imf.org
Dear Mr. Plant,
On March 16, 2016 I contacted you regarding a complaint of bullying and wrongful termination with the IMF, and IMFFA in the past. I was contacted by the temp agency, Global Employment, last week regarding a temp position this past week at the IMF. In the end the assignment was not confirmed, and did not happen (with no issue). However, I can only surmise from the call, that I have been removed from the “black-list” at the Fund.
Since, then I have applied for two administrative positions at the IMF, and await responses. However, this still does not clarify my standing in regards to my application for Programs Assistant in the Office of the Executive Director of France. I am particularly interested in being considered for this position, as it involves dealing with French diplomats, etc, and it is an excellent possibility for be to build my networks in the French community within the DC area.
However, since I filed my original complaint with the IMF, I have been further researching the NGO where Ms. Keller has been on staff since December 2015. The name of the NGO is Knowledge Ecology International (KEI). It is an NGO originally started under Ralph Nader, with former chief economist at the IMF, Mr. Joseph E. Stiglitz sitting on its Board of Advisors. (Mr. Stiglitz bookThe Price of Inequality is on my “to read list”.) Additionally, the Director, James Love is known for his work on intellectual property rights.
When I saw the distinguished level of the founder, advisors, and management of KEI—noting that the work of these experts is completely in line with my own work of the past decades, my animosity towards Ms. Keller was understandably heightened. My work on Global Expats is totally in line with Mr. Nader life work on consumer protection issues. And my blogs (and future socio-economic work, when I can get Global Expats up and running) is completely, and totally, in line with Mr. Stiglitz work in economics. I even recently order Laura Nader’s books Law in Culture and Society, and The Life of Law: Anthropological Projects, which have key elements in my research on the degradation of rights in the courts and societies at present. And, the work in medicine (treatment of thrombosis) that I am attempting to assist my father (world reknown for his pioneer work in the ‘70s) in developing through an open source platform is very much in line with some of the work related to medicine at KEI. Not only is the position Ms. Keller holds, one more appropriately mine; much KEI could benefit much from my work, as well as my father’s.
When I looked as Ms. Keller’s profile on the KEI website, I was astounded to see that she is not only Director of Development, but has a research assistant at her disposition as well. Ms. Keller has absolutely no experience, knowledge, background, intellectual curiosity, intelligence, education, or character to have been offered her current position. Ms. Keller is a self-serving, micro-manager, who spends her time social climbing and networking—nothing more. As already stated in my previous complaint, Ms. Keller was not only totally unqualified to be Chair of the IMFFA, she is completely and totally unqualified for her current position. And, it was in efforts to cover-up this ineptitude that she fired me many years ago. I can only deduce that Ms. Keller obtained this position at KEI, because of her connections to Mr. Stiglitz through her husband’s personal and/or professional connection to Mr. Stiglitz at the IMF.
However, what struck me as particularly bizarre, was that Ms. Keller would have obtained this position, by simply promoting the ideas of the IMFFA in 2009-2011 as her own; all the while being very vocal about additional funding and the MoU. The prestige of the position which Ms. Keller holds at present is totally incongruent with the experience of a part-time, freelance translator and one-term president of a local ‘Expat Wives Club’ who got “some extra funding” for the club “in a down market.” The position Ms. Keller holds is much more than a housewife who turned the idea of an antiquated social club into a more professional, high-profile structure (www.fawco.org is doing the same, with same ineffective results as www.imffa.org). Good ideas, as I can attest because many were my own; but not “earth-shattering” enough for Ms. Keller to merit a position such as the one she holds at present.
I am beginning to suspect that not only is Ms. Keller promoting herself as a “world citizen” in the international community in DC using my work at the IMFFA as “proof.” But, I believe she may be reading my blogs, and espousing those ideas as her own amongst IMF economists as well as in the DC international community. It is the only way I can conveyable believe that she would have been offered a position at KEI.
If you will examine Ms. Keller’s background, education, experiences, and travels against my own; particularly calling attention to my reports, letters to government officials, NGOs, casework, etc. posted on www.warondomesticterrorism.com, as well as my blogs on Linkedin, HuffPost, Womenalia, and Reuters Foundation, and my Reading List, as well as my educational background in prep schools in England and the USA, and then GWU in DC—and my extensive globe-trotting since. I believe there is no doubt as to who is the brains behind any ideas for ‘Expat Wives Clubs,’ or socio-economic development theories that Ms. Keller may be discussing, or perpetuating as her own. I can assure you a ½ hour interview with Ms. Keller, and a ½ hour interview with me, about international macro-economics and development theories will dispel any doubt from anyone’s mind as to who is the real global citizen and genius, and who is not.
If you will examine not only my background, which includes a degree in business marketing, several market studies in the 1990s in Latin America and global distribution networks for artesan products, ongoing research for the past 40 years in sociology, psychology, economics, politics, healthcare, global socio-economic issues, cultural diversity, women and gender issues, women’s rights, children’s rights, childhood development, discrimination in all its forms, human rights, civil rights….., and then there are my hobbies and interests… I believe there will be no doubt as to which trophy-wife, trailing-spouse (without the PhD) is the real global citizen, and the genius in current socio-economic thought in DC and around the world—and who in reality is the imposter.
However, by simply perusing my blogs on Linkedin with 6500+ followers (many WB, IMF and UN) against no blogs or posts by Ms. Keller with 164 contacts, it is evident to the world who is the brains, and who is the hot air in this situation.
I am supremely qualified for the position which Ms. Keller holds a present; a position for which she is most definitely NOT qualified. In the interest of transparency, it is extremely important that KEI be notified of the possible misrepresentations of Ms. Keller in obtaining that position, and that I be afforded the opportunity to apply, and be considered no my merits and the rightful owner of my ideas.
I realize that this puts the IMF in an uncomfortable position, as well as Mr. Stiglitz, KEI, and myself. I prefer to give the opportunity for the IMF to contact KEI regarding the misrepresentation of Ms. Keller, and the truth behind what has transpired; as well as that under all standards of fairness, I deserve to be considered for that position. However, if you feel that it would be more appropriate for me to directly contact KEI directly, I will understand, and I handle it accordingly.
Please let me know how the IMF wishes to proceed in this matter. And, if anyone should have any questions, or wish to discuss issues further, I remain at your disposition.
Regards,
Quenby Wilcox
From: Quenby Wilcox <quenbywilcox2@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 5:07 PM
Subject: Complaint for Bullying in the Workplace in ICD and IMFFA
To: mplant@imf.org
Dear Mr. Plant,
Upon the recommendation of Ms. Gheeta Ravindra, mediator at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), I am sending you copies of complaint I filed with the Ethics Committee for two cases of workplace bullying. First, against the IMF involving Ms. Adrianne Thapa, MAP OM of ICD, and the failure of Ms. Sharmini Coorey, Director of ICD, to investigate my allegations of bullying and my wrongful termination by Ms. Thapa, as Projects Assistant in ICD in 2015. And, the second against Ms. Anne Beatrix Keller Semandeni, former Chair of the IMFFA, Ms. Sarah Happel, former Chair of the IMFFA, and Mr. John Harper, former vice-Chair of the IMFFA (under Ms. Keller), for my wrongful termination as Administrative Assistant of the IMFFA in 2011.
Please note that while the first instance of bullying and wrongful termination occurred several years ago, while I was employed at the IMFFA, Ms. Adrianne Thapa, was my contact person at the IMF. The failure of her to report knowledge that Ms. Keller was falsely accusing me of declaring overtime, does make her complicit to the cover-up of any lies Ms. Keller may have told HR, and that resulted in my wrongful termination. Ms. Keller made these false accusations as a pretext to have me fired, for her personal feelings towards me, as well as the fact that many of the ideas she was promoting with IMF HR to obtain additionally funding for the IMFFA in 2011, were in fact, ideas from my Global Expats project–and not her own. Ms. Keller was presenting those ideas to IMF HR as hers; all the while denigrating, and leading IMF HR to believe that I was incompetent and useless. I imagine that Ms. Keller did not want IMF HR to find out that, her ideas were in fact mine. And, why it was imperative of Ms. Keller to have my contract terminated before she stepped down at Chair of the IMFFA–and, why she had to come up with a false accusation that would result in my immediate termination (Feb. 2011), even though my contract did not finish until the end of April 2011.
I began my project, Global Expats/www.global-expats.com in 2005-06, with a “working” prototype on the Internet in 2007, along with correspondence to the State Department, Embassies, and hundreds of global mobility experts around the world in 2007. The existence of my website, as well as an outline of the entire project is well-documented as early as 2007, and extremely well-known, as is my domestic violence case in Spain with expats, and global mobility experts across the globe. Now, I have no issue with Ms. Keller, or the IMFFA, using my ideas. In fact, I encourage it. But, I do take issue at someone promoting those ideas as their own and trying to destroy me in the process to cover-up their theft, which is what Ms. Keller did.
While I began Global Expats in 2006-07, its development has been hampered by a domestic violence case in Spain (where I was living at the time) and the failure of the Spanish judicial system to protect me, and my children (who are in Spain). As everyone is aware, I have been challenging the negligence and corruption in the Spanish judicial system for the past 8 years (my divorce was in 2008-2012), and I will be presenting my case to CEDAW in the coming month, after having spent the past years “exhausting all domestic remedies.” My case against the Spanish government follows up, and challenges the Spanish government’s defense in Gonzalez Carreno vs. Spain, 2014. A synopsis of my case against that government is posted on my complaint to the Spanish Defenso del Pueblo in 2014. However, I am a dual national American-French, and I have been soliciting the assistance of my Consulates in Madrid since 2007 when the judicial corruption first began. Therefore in my complaint I will be naming the American and French government complicit to the human rights violations of the Spanish government. For a synopsis of my case against the American government, please see my letter to the Congressional American Abroad Caucus which highlights the issues from a public policy perspective. (Unfortunately, the website business model I was developing in 2006-07 is now called a local-search directory, with the concept of www.global-xpats.com that of www.tripadvisor.com, but for a family moving rather than on vacation. Tripadvisor.com is presently generating revenue of $1.5B, so pending litigation against the 3 injurious governments as well as individuals involved in my case involve damages close to $10B. )
Why I did not file a law suit against the IMFFA in 2011 is explained in the attached complaint.
Additionally, in relation to my complaint against Ms. Thapa and Ms. Keller, et al, please see attached a draft version of background material I am preparing for my CEDAW submission, FfD: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is pertinent to cases of bullying in the workplace. My research of VAW of the past 8 years, has examined it from an intersectional approach, as well as under human rights standards, so the report is as applicable to bullying in the workplace, as it is to bullying within the home. Additionally, theWorkplace Bullying Institute, states the following regarding domestic violence and workplace bullying,
Being bullied at work most closely resembles the experience of being a battered spouse. The abuser inflicts pain when and where she or he chooses, keeping the target (victim) off balance knowing that violence can happen on a whim, but dangling the hope that safety is possible during a period of peace of unknown duration. The target is kept close to the abuser by the nature of the relationship between them — husband to wife or boss to subordinate or co-worker to co-worker.
I believe the attached documents explains the situation of bullying, not only in ICD, but in a larger context of why the global mobility is failing to effectively combat bullying in the workplace. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you might have. In terms of supplementary information you might require, please note that all the facts and documentation of my CEDAW case are posted on www.warondomesticterrorism.com for your perusal. I hope you might assist me in clarifying my standing with IMF HR, and any misunderstandings Ms. Keller, Ms. Thapa, or any other implicated party may have created with the IMF as to me, my integrity, my honesty, my competence, and my dedication to my work.
Thank you in advance for your time, and consideration.
A Japan-based American family seeks the help of the public to save the life of their son, Jimmy Ryan who is a victim of a suffocation atrocity, and series of violations of his human rights beginning several years ago. After years of negligence and denial of life-saving medical intervention, the family has taken to internet, seeking help from the public to save Jimmy, by signing the Jimmy’s Wish petition. The family seeks justice and pleads with the public to sign their petition that demands U.S…
The Honorable Barbara Boxer, 112 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Tel.: (202) 224-3553
November 24, 2015
Dear Senator Boxer,
I am contacting you regarding the case of your constituent Mr. James Ryan, and the failure of the Japanese government to comply with national and international law in regards to the continuing denial of life-saving treatment to his son, Jimmy Ryan, a minor American child in Tokyo.
I have recently been in contact with Mr. Ryan in regards to the horrific attempts upon the life of his child, and subsequently upon the life of Mr. Ryan in retaliation for his efforts to obligate authorities to investigate the attempted suffocation of his child on Dec. 28, 2007, by attending doctors at a Japanese military facility, Bōei Ika Daigakkō Hospital.
The alleged suffocation of the minor child occurred just four days after Mr. Ryan announced his legal obligation to report multiple schemes of conspiracy, fraud, coercion, and scientific misconduct by eminent scientists at Kobe Japan (Riken) – providing means, motive, and opportunity for said crimes.
It is absolutely unconscionable that the American Consulate and Embassy in Tokyo has not strenuously protested to the failure of Japanese authorities to rigorously and without delay investigate Mr. Ryan’s allegations (of attempted murder as well as its cover-up by Japanese authorities). The fact that the American Embassy in Tokyo has categorically, and continuously, persisted in refusing to assist Mr. Ryan’s request for assistance under Code of Federal Regulations (CFR22, art. 71.1, 71.6, §10.735–215, §101.3(b)), US Code (22USC, art. 2715a & 3904(1)), US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (7FAM, 1930’s), and Convention of Consular Relations (art. 2, 5 & 38), renders them complicit to the human rights violations against Jimmy Ryan.
I have previously been in contact with your office regarding another of your constituents, who is also facing violation of her and her child’s rights in foreign courts, with her Embassy and the US Department of State grossly negligent in their duties and obligations to assist and protect. The refusal of American Consulates around the world to fulfill their obligations towards American citizens living abroad is an on-going problem, and one which is producing vast amounts of potential law-suits against the American government for flagrant and rampant human rights violations – under their obligation to protect (Gonzalez Lenahan vs. USA, 2011 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights).
Please find enclosed a copy of the email Mr. Ryan sent to your office on Monday, November 23, 2015, in which he solicits your immediate insistence with the US Department of State in assuring that Jimmy Ryan, an American minor child, receives the life-saving treatment he so desperately needs. I hope that you will comply with Mr. Ryan’s request and assure that the US Department of State take immediate action in assuring that Mr. Ryan is provided will ALL assistance required and requested.
I thank you for your interest in Mr. Ryan’s case and the plight of his child. The prolonged pain and suffering that this family has had to endure in efforts to save their child is atrocious. But, the inaction of apathy of the American Consulate and Embassy in Tokyo is not only atrocious, but is a human rights violation, in and of itself.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at quenby@global-xpats.com.
Sincerely,
Quenby Wilcox
Founder – Global Expats
Founder – Safe Child International
~~~~~~~~~~
The Honorable Caroline Bouvier Kennedy
1-10-5 Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420 JAPAN
Phone: 03-3224-5000
Fax: 03-3505-1862
March 3, 2016
Dear Ambassador Kennedy,
I am contacting you regarding the case of Mr. James Ryan, an American national residing in Japan, and the failure of the Japanese government to comply with national and international law in regards to the continuing denial of life-saving treatment to his son, Jimmy Ryan, a minor American child in Tokyo.
Please find enclosed a letter I sent to Senator Barbara Boxer, in regard to the case of Mr. Ryan, a constituent of Senator Boxer. As stated in my letter, the gross negligence of the American Consulate in implementing Code of Federal Regulations (CFR22, art. 71.1, 71.6, §10.735–215, §101.3(b), US Code (22USC, art. 2715a & 3904(1), US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (7FAM, 1930’s), and Convention of Consular Relations (art. 2, 5 & 38), renders them complicit to the human rights violations against Jimmy Ryan.
At present the child is still alive. However, Mr. Ryan has informed that his death is imminent.
I do wish to inform the American Embassy if this child dies, because of the continuing refusal of the American Consulate and Embassy in Japan to fulfill their legal obligation to protect under international law (Gonzales Lenahan vs. USA, 2011 and Gonzalez Carreno vs. Spain, 2014) and assure that this child is provided with the access to live-saving medical assistance, the American government will, under international law, be complicit in the death of this child.
Governments are using the defense of “sovereignty rights” and “judicial independence”[1] in the cases cited above to defend what in reality is criminal negligence of governments in their failure to implement national and international laws, as Jimmy Ryan’s case so dramatically demonstrates.
I am well familiar with the “sovereignty rights” and “judicial independence” debates as I have been challenging these defenses of the Spanish, American and French governments for the past 8 years, and is the crux of my CEDAW case Wilcox vs. Spain, against the Spanish government[2], naming the American and French government complicit and accessories to the crimes and human rights violations of the Spanish government—noting that the defense of the Spanish government in Gonzalez vs. Spain was “judicial error” and a failure to exhaust, with the Bar Association of Madrid in my case claiming it is the “right of lawyers in Spain to engage in “judicial error” under the principle of judicial independence.”
This ludicrously is why government’s argumentation of “judicial independence” and “sovereignty” (in the cover-up of judicial corruption) has no logic, or legal validation.
I completely understand the American government’s (and all government’s) contention that they are prohibited from “intervening in judicial procedures, particularly those under foreign jurisdiction” WHEN integrity, transparency, and accountability exist within the judicial (and executive and legislative) branch of government. However, this is NOT THE CASE in Japan, nor in any other country in the world.
In the USA (the supposed crème de la crème of judicial systems), negligence rates are consistently at 70%. Innocence projects across the country are showing judicial error of 70%. Gender-bias and other studies done across the USA by universities, bar associations, and think tanks are showing 70% “transfer” rates of children to sexually and physically abuse parents with in family courts. However, the 70% (actually 70-90%) negligence/failure rates I am finding in the USA is not reserved to the judicial systems. It is systemic. And, it is systemic because the legal profession (globally) is guided more by greed and nepotism than morals or ethics.
As you can see in my background material for my CEDAW case, Financing for Development (FfD): A Midsummer Night’s Dream[3], the financial markets are so riffed with greed, nepotism, and corruption that unless government’s address the underlying rampant and systemic corruption within judicial systems, the trillions destined for “saving the world” will do nothing more than aggravate existing global problems of poverty, inequality, global warming, etc.—pushing the world to a point of no return. Much of the 70-90% failure rates of business start-ups in the world today is nothing more than the failure of financiers to “do their homework;” and instead rely on nepotism as well as game-shows and gimmicks to make investment decisions.
Paradoxically, the efforts of Embassies and Consulates to remain “transparent” by not intervening in judicial systems, (in foreign countries) are rendering them complicit to criminal negligence of the Receiving government who are guilty of human rights violations due to their failure to assure transparency and accountability in their courts.
In the case of the American government, and the failure of the US Department of State combat the rampant discriminatory norms within Consulates globally—Consulates that are miserably failing to implement State Department guidelines and directive, but also US federal law, on top of international law—is in part due to lack of leadership from the very top of the American political machine—President Obama. Please see my series of blogs in the Sean Penn, El Chapo Speaks and Freedom of Speech in America Affair, which is on-going due to an American press which has been overtaken by pundits and wisecrackers, rather than serious reporting.
As Dr. Justin Frank states in his book, Bush on the Couch,
But as we’ve seen, [President Obama’s] most uplifting speeches are often followed by periods of letdown. He flies in, inspires with a speech—and then flies out. I think he is trying not to be one-sided, when sometimes it’s necessary for a president to take action. It is on this cusp that we again see Obama using the language of substitution—more subtly so when he’s being so connected and empathic—instead of the Language of Achievement, by which walking in another person’s shoes must result in taking action. The bin Laden mission was action taken, and it offered the bonus of distracting us from the violence of unemployment in a way not very different from his extremely moving and meaningful appearance at Booker T. Washington High School. In the latter case, however, empathy and understanding substituted for action…
As president, Obama still exhibits great empathy, but until the mission to get bin Laden, he suffered from a decisiveness deficit; he’s more comfortable taking decisive action against an external threat to Americans than on his empathy for the citizens and followers who fact homegrown threats posed by legislators who protect the wealthy while slashing need domestic programs. Instead of acting on his empathy, he outsources action to members of Congress… Obama sometimes behaves too much like his father, flying into a place and then leaving without follow-through…
While the concentration of my work, until present, has been in the area of corruption and negligence in family courts as human rights violations, I do not discriminate against children whose violation of rights, and/or life and death issues do not involve family courts—I will protest against the violation of the rights of anyone, anywhere. The problems in the courts, from a human rights perspective, are the same as in criminal and civil courts, as well as a current case of work-place bullying.
Rampant and systemic abuses of power are occurring at all levels of societies due to public authorities turning a blind eye to abuse of power under their purview—in international jargon called lack of governance and transparency. Please see the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting Civil Society Townhall 2015[8] which explain the underlying issues and the necessity for civic actions, such as my own, in calling for implementation of decades of empty promises and rhetoric.
I sincerely hope that the American Consulate in Japan will, take whatever immediate actions are necessary to provide all, and any, emergency humanitarian assistance to the son of James Ryan, Jimmy Ryan, a minor child and American citizen, whose right to life, and humanitarian aid, has been denied to him for almost a decade, while this brave poor soul fights desperately for his life with every ounce of his being.
In your book The Right to Privacy (which I will be using in developing argumentation of universal jurisdiction for combating human rights violations in family courts at a global level), you wrote,
Why we as Americans so cherish our privacy is not easy to explain. Privacy covers many things. It protects the solitude necessary for creative thought. It allows us the independence that is part of raising a family. It protects our right to be secure in our own homes and possessions, assured that the government cannot come barging in. Privacy also encompasses our right to self-determination and to define who we are. Although we live in a world of noisy self-determination and to define who we are. Although we live in a world of noisy self-confession, privacy allows us to keep certain facts to ourselves if we so choose. The right to privacy, it seems, is what makes us civilized.
As you so eloquently state, it is the right to privacy which brings civility to mankind. But, it is the right to life which brings humanity to mankind.
Sincerely,
Quenby Wilcox
Founder – Global Expats
Founder – Safe Child International
————
[1] state vs. federal rights in USA are theoretically the same as the sovereignty rights debate in the international arena
[7] June ’14 Judicial Corruption & Human Rights, May ’14 Transparency Intl.-Global Corruption Report-Part I, Apr ’14 Integrating Human Rights in the Anti-Corruption Agenda, Mar. ’14 Corruption & Human Rights-Making the Connection, Feb. ‘ 14 The Relationship Btwn. Human Rights & Corruption / Organised Crime & Corruption , Jan. ’14 – Amnesty Intl (Spain) – What Specialized Justice?, Dec. – United Nations Secretary General’s Report – Advancement of Women: In-depth Study on VAW, Nov. – Save the Children Report – The Spanish Justice System Confronted with Sexual Abuse w/in the Family, Oct. – The Emperor’s New Clothes – Domestic Violence, International Divorce, and a State’s Obligation to Protect under International Law, Sept. – Hague Convention Domestic Violence Project, Aug. – works by Barry Goldstein, Dr. Mo Hannah & Elizabeth Liu, July – documentary “Now Way Out But One” by Garland Waller & Barry Nolan, June – Safe Kids International & Damon’s List , May – Battered Mother’s Custody Conference (BMCC), Mothers of Lost Children (MOLC) White House Demonstration, & National Safe Child Coalition (NSCC) lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. https://warondomesticterrorism.com/category/fcc_newsletters/
This petition is part of a group petition submitted by Cindy Dumas of Safe Kids International to UN Women’s Communication Procedure, which states:
Any individual, non-governmental organization, group or network may submit communications (complaints/appeals/petitions) to the Commission on the Status of Women containing information relating to alleged violations of human rights that affect the status of women in any country in the world. The Commission on the Status of Women considers such communications as part of its annual programme of work in order to identify emerging trends and patterns of injustice and discriminatory practices against women for purposes of policy formulation and development of strategies for the promotion of gender equality. – See more at:http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/communications-procedure
Petition to United Nations via UN Women RE: International Pattern of Human Rights Violations against Women – Quenby Wilcox
In 2005, after having given up a career for over 20 yrs, in deference to my husband’s career (banker/ expat employee), I decided to utilize my extensive knowledge of expatriation, travelling, & family relocations (35 yrs. & 8 intl. relocations) to start a website/company that would assist expatriated families around the world – targeting apx 250+ million expat women & children of all nationalities. The business model used is a local search directory (cross btwn www.tripadvisor.com, revenues 2014, $1.25B & www.yelp.com, revenues 2014, $320M), which employ 2-3000 people. Global Expats is projected to create 3-4000 jobs for expat women, in 5 yrs. after upcoming launch of website (9/15). My ex-husband (Javier Gonzalez de Alcala) had never wanted me working outside the home & had actively sought expat positions w/ his employer to this end. He even went so far as to hire someone to hack into & destroy my computers (2006-2008) & paid my webdesigners, www.armina.com, to sabotage my website (disenabling user registration, & uploading & advertising abilities, 2006-08); rendering the platform unusable to this day. Then, in July 2007, my husband told me that if I did not renounce my efforts to create Global Expats he would take my children, all my money, & throw me on the street w/ nothing. His threats escalated to threats upon my life & person (w/ several attempts), as well as continuous threats to incarcerate me in prison or psychiatric facilities. In our divorce decree the judge declared me a ‘drug-addict’ & unfit mother on nothing more than my ex-husband’s accusation, suppressing all & any evidence & testimonies to the contrary – awarding me only supervised visitation. But, since I was obligated to flee Spain, due to the violence & threats, I have not seen, and barely spoken to my children since Feb. 2008. Also, during 2007-12, the courts continually denied me access to ALL my funds & assets in Spain (w/ no money to pay daily living & housing expenses, legal fees related to my defense, or creation of my company). I was made destitute & homeless by the courts, while my ex-husband, w/ salary of ~200,000 euros/yr. & tens of millions in hidden savings (& no expenses – residing w/ parents) was unilaterally, & illegally, absolved of his marital & parental responsibilities & liabilities by judge during 2008. I was then told, by my lawyers, that I would have to “buy my children.” Lawyers & Spanish authorities claim that violations of women’s economic & custodial rights, & preference for patriarchal rights, are the ‘norm’ and ‘custom’ in Spain. Reports & stats by govt. & Amnesty International substantiate their claim. I filed complaints w/ ALL appropriate public authorities, and ALL refused to examine my allegations against implicated parties, w/ the Bar Association of Madrid claiming it the ‘Right’ of Spanish lawyers to violate rights of their clients under the principle of judicial independence. Please note that the defense of the Spanish government in Gonzalez Carreno vs. Spain (CEDAW, 2014) was “inadmissibility due to ‘judicial error’ & a failure to exhaust”. My case clearly demonstrates that the disciplinary process for “judicial error” in Spain is NON-EXISTENT, & nothing but a façade designed to deceive the Spanish people. In fact, not only is the cover-up of domestic violence by Spanish govt extensive & systematic, the fact that they are turning a blind-eye to rampant organized criminal activity by & within Spanish courts, elevates their human rights violations to crimes against humanity (art. 7 of Rome Statutes). In addition to notifying all appropriate Spanish authorities of judicial misconduct, I have repeatedly solicited the assistance from my Consulates in Madrid (American & French). Instead of assisting me as requested, & as is their obligation under American/French, & international law, they are turning a blind eye to the situation – rendering the American & French governments complicit to the crimes of Spanish judicial actors & Spanish govt. Unless Spain launches an investigation into the crimes committed by my legal counsel & presiding judges, I will be forced to continue w/in the intl courts seeking full damages cause by the negligence of the Spanish government in lost revenue to my company (& personal patrimony) in the past 8 years.
I have done extensive intersectional research on the women’s rights, human rights, and domestic violence movements of the past 50 years, and what my research has shown is that the failure of those movements to develop a cohesive, comprehensive approach to promoting & defending women’s rights (particularly private rights) has left a void, which male supremacist groups (under the guise of father’s rights) have been at total liberty to develop & promote gender bias ideologies & policies into family courts which discriminate and oppress women in the society. The REFUSAL of governments to assure integrity, governance, transparency, and accountability in their courts (as I demonstrate in my case) is at the root cause of the problems within the courts – elevating these human rights violations to crimes against humanity. Listed below are my reports, blogs and case work:
VAW/DV as a Human Rights Violation by Quenby Wilcox – Battered Mothers Custody Conference XI (2015) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV9sfxSWDqM
FAMILY COURTS IN CRISIS NEWSLETTER (by Quenby Wilcox)
Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500
RE: American Living Abroad in Cases of Domestic Abuse and the US State Department’s Refusal to Fulfill their Obligation to Protect under International Law & US Federal Law
May 26, 2015
Dear Ms. Bettinger-Lopez,
I am contacting you in your capacity as White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, and the continuing refusal of the US Department of State to implement their own guidelines and US federal law in regards to defending the rights of American victims of domestic abuse living abroad, involved in foreign judicial proceedings.
Please find enclosed my previous correspondence to the White House and Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy, regarding the obligation of the American government and US law to defend and protect the rights of Americans living overseas in foreign courts. (All other communications with government officials are posted on www.warondomesticterrorism.com.)
For the past 8 years I have been informing the American Embassy & Consulate in Madrid, as well as the State Department in Washington, DC of the repeated violation of my rights by my lawyers in Spain (2007-2012). Additionally, I have continually informed them of the refusal of appropriate Spanish authorities to investigate my allegations against implicated lawyers (2012-present, see attached translated letter to Defensor del Pueblo). I have repeatedly solicited Consular assistance under the Convention of Consular Relations, and US federal law, to no avail. Not only do I have a compelling case against the Spanish government under international law, but against the American government as well.
The American Embassy and American government cannot feign ignorance to rampant corruption and discrimination against women in Spanish courts, as well as the almost certainty that American women & children victims of domestic abuse will NOT be protected. It is therefore, under the reasonable person principle, ABSOLUTELY necessary for the American Consulates in Spain to assure the protection of victim’s rights within the courts. The refusal of the American government to act (omission of action), creates a tort under their obligation to protect, under international law.
As a ‘human rights of women’ lawyer, you are obviously familiar with the obligation of governments to take positive action in ending violence, oppression, and discrimination against women. The US Department of State (and all its agents) have a clear legal obligation, as well as the legal tools at their disposition, to defend and protest the violation of rights of their citizens in foreign courts. Their refusal to utilize the legal tools at their disposition demonstrates the American government’s continuing bad faith, and lack of conviction in fulfilling their international obligation to combat violence against women, combat domestic violence, and combat discrimination against and oppression of women & children.
The continual refusal of American officials to take ‘positive action’ in defending the rights of American women & children abroad is just another manifestation of discriminatory norms by US government officials in their daily tasks & responsibilities. The continual rationalizations of inaction by all public authorities under the argumentation of ‘habitual custom,’ ‘private rights vs. public rights,’ ‘sovereignty/federal vs. state rights,’ ‘judicial independence’ are totally unfounded and based on nothing more than gender-bias, stereo-typing, and discrimination against women by everyone concerned. (See all correspondences on www.warondomesticterrorism.com.)
These baseless argumentations are the type of gobbled-gook I have been receiving in official communications from Spanish & American civil servants for the past 8 years, and which I challenge and dismantle in my blogs onWomenalia[5], Huffington Post[6], and my VAW/DV as a Human Rights Violation presentation at the 11th Annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference.[7] Additionally, I will strenuously be challenging these contentions in presentation of my case to CEDAW (Wilcox vs. Spain), if appropriate action is not immediately forthcoming from the American Embassy/Consulate in Madrid, and/or Spanish authorities.
I sincerely hope that American government officials, in the White House and State Department, will start reading my correspondences, instead of relegating official communications to civil servants who are totally ignorant about US federal law, international law, and lack basic common sense. Just because the US government is basing its policies, particularly foreign policies, on ignorance, misinformation, and prejudices, civil servants & elected officials are not absolved of wrong-doing. Public authorities have a legal obligation to be properly informed about the issues with which they deal, and ignorance of the law, or the facts of the situation, does not absolve them from their legal responsibility. Human rights law of the past 60 years has firmly established that gross human rights violations can in no way, shape or form be defended under ‘habitual custom’ or ‘those were my orders’ argumentation of xenophobic and/or sociopathic public authorities.
I repeat, at issue here, is the failure and/or refusalof judicial actors (and Consular agents) to utilize the laws & progressive, gender-equal legal argumentations in application of the law – not the abuse & violence of a bunch of psychopathic men. This is, and has been, the crux of the matter for decades. Since the feminist (and Democrats) have done nothing to attack the political argumentation on women’s private rights in the past 50 years, during this time the ‘New Right’ (and Republicans) have been left an ‘open playing field’ with which to advance male-prerogative and male-supremacy (in the courts, media & societies) – and have been very effective in doing so. See my blog Window Dressing, Smoke Screens, and Hellfire Rhetoric by Quenby Wilcox http://www.womenalia.com/us/blogs/having-it-all/judicial-acccountability-for-womens-rights-window-dressing-smoke-screens-and-hellfire-rhetoric, from which I quote;
“If contemporary backlash had a birthplace, it was here within the ranks of the New Right, where it first took shape as a movement with a clear ideological agenda. The New Right leaders were among the first to articulate the central argument of the backlash – that women’s equality is responsible for women’s unhappiness. They were also the first to lambaste the women’s movement for what would become its two most popularly cited, and contradictory, sins: promoting materialism over moral values (i.e., turning women into greedy yuppies) and dismantling the traditional familial support system (i.e., turning women into welfare mothers). The mainstream would reject their fevered rhetoric and hellfire imagery, but the heart of their political message survived – to be transubstantiated into the media’s “trends.””
The right-wing ‘elite’ responsible for delivering this ‘backlash’ message were filled with ‘Reaganite’ career-women – Phyliss Schlafly, Beverly LaHaye, Connaught “Connie” Marshner, Rosemary Thomson (Price of Liberty), Elizabeth Kepler, Susan Larson, Rebecca Hagelin, Marjory Mecklenburg, Carol Bauer, Margarita Levin,… Women, who entrenched in a hypocritical crusade, were “voicing antifeminist views” while at the same time “internalizing the message of the women’s movement and quietly incorporating its tenets of self-determination, equality, and freedom of choice into their private behavior.” (Faludi)
However, even though a well-orchestrated extremist, Right-wing backlash in the past 50+ years has created a situation which is equivalent to governments letting the Klu Klux Klan dictate ‘racial-equality’, or the Nazi-Gestapo groups formulating a Jewish ‘solution,’ governments are NOT absolved of the responsibility. For this reason, governments ARE RESPONSIBLE & LIABLE for the discriminatory norms amongst public officials and court officials; norms which have thrived, flourished, and grown within the courts and the political arena.
While feminists have been, and are, very vocal about the ‘Stalled Revolution,’ and how it is preventing them from attaining the same level of power & wealth of men, they are failing to understand that as long as ‘breaking the glass ceiling’ remains their only objective, discrimination & oppression of women by the courts will continue to be their greatest enemy and foe.
The role of governments, in assuring appropriate application and implementation of laws within their court, is indisputable. In my particular case, the repeated refusal of the Colegio de Abogados de Madrid to adhere to Spanish law in the investigation of allegations against implicated lawyers is in gross violation of Spanish, as well as international, law. And, the refusal of the American Embassy to protest to the Colegio de Abogados de Madrid refusal to act is also in gross violation of US federal law and international law.
However, my case is no longer just about the Spanish and American government’s failure to fulfill their obligation to protect, but about assuring that the 7+ million Americans residing abroad are afforded Consular assistance, when requested, as is their right under the law.
International divorces and custody disputes are on the rise, and until the discriminatory-trends in the courts (which are also on the rise) are successfully challenged, the refusal of Consulates to take ‘positive action’ – invoking their authority under the Convention of Consular Relations – renders US federal government employees complicit to human rights violations of Americans abroad, in case after case. And, as long as the US State Department continues to refuse to implement their own guidelines and US federal law, I will continue to challenge their right to refuse assistance to Americans living abroad (see my Family Courts in Crisis newsletter – Oct. ‘13[8]) – as well as continue to solicit the assistance of the media in exposing the illegality of US government’s actions, and omission of actions.
Further aggravating the American government’s tort (and financial liability) in my particular case, is that my company, Global Expats, is designed to assist expatriated families during their stance abroad, as well as provide remunerated employment opportunities to thousands of ‘trailing spouses’ across the globe. The misappropriation of funds, and my inability to freely access my assets in Spain since July 2007 (with my lawyer’s negligence (see attached table[9]) directly responsible for that inability), has prevented me from moving forward in developing Global Expats in the interim years. Please see timeline of events[10].
Under the reasonable person principle, if I am thrown into abject poverty, obligated to seek refuge in another country, and struggling with permanent housing & stable employment issues, my financial resources for developing a global Internet start-up company would be non-existent. Therefore, logically, lawyers responsible for violation of my economic rights, & my inability to access my rightful assets, are directly responsible for preventing me from moving forward in developing my project. All lawyers, at all times, have been informed as to the existence of my company, and my ex-husbands efforts to destroy it, as well as my necessity for common property funds in order to develop it – their continual refusal to accord me access to my property (financial records) renders them accessories to fraud and racketeering.
My lawyer’s efforts to silence me, and my protests to the repeated & continual violation of my rights, has resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions in revenues to my company, and the prevention of thousands of jobs for expatriated women, in addition to loss of all my personal assets (est. $3 million). Not only does the negligence of my lawyers have implications under Spanish penal law, and international human rights law, but also under international commerce law – with their conspiracy to defraud & conspiracy to cover-up penal offenses & human rights violations ongoing offenses – making mute any statute of limitation argumentation on their part.
I have continually indicated in all of my official correspondence with Spanish and American officials that my greatest desire is to return to Spain and my children, build my company and live in peace and freedom of movement, as is my rights. I have also stipulated the need for implicated judicial actors to be held accountable for their actions, and omission of actions in all matters. Until those responsible are held accountable, I will continue to pursue all legal channels at my disposition. I wish to note here that in my blogs & elsewhere, I am pursuing argumentation of ‘crimes against humanity’ by governments who are complicit (by their omission of action) to the corruption within their courts, further dismantling any statute of limitation argumentation on their part.
The fact that the White House and the Advisor on Violence Against Women is well aware of the many problems women victims within the courts is evidenced by Lynn Rosenthal’s participation in the Battered Mothers Custody Conference in Washington, DC in May 2013.[11] And, the fact that the White House is well aware of the problems within the courts, but refuses to take ‘positive action’ when they have both the power and authority to do so, as state earlier, implicates US civil servants in human rights violations and crimes against humanity, by their omission of action.
As stated and re-stated before (but not sinking into the heads of government officials), and re-iterated in my presentation at the BMCC[12] this year, what is at issue here are court systems which are so riffed with gender-bias and stereo-typing that discrimination has become integrated and ingrained in the reasoning and deliberation of judicial actors and politicians alike. This is why the obligation of appropriate public authorities to hold judicial actors accountable, to the letter of the law, is primordial in assuring that governments fulfill their obligation to protect. The complete and total laissez-faire policy of the executive and legislative branches towards the judicial branch defies all rules of democracy & democratic procedure – striking down any ‘judicial independence,’ ‘sovereignty,’ or ‘private rights’ defenses put forward by ignorant and misinformed civil servants.
While my citation of international conventions and jurisprudence in family courts is admittedly new and innovative, all my argumentation is well substantiated by UN reports Indepth Study on VAW, Good Practices in Eliminating & Combating VAW as well as scholarly literature such as The Human Rights of Women and Gender Stereo-typing: Transnational Legal Perspective by Rebecca Cook, inter alia (see my bibliography[13]). The continuing contention of US and Spanish civil servants that my argumentation & official solicitations for assistance are nothing more than “illusions of a stupid housewife” are testaments to their ignorance, lack of training, lack of competence, lack of cognitive ability, etc. The elevated ignorance & discriminatory norms of government officials and civil servants is in and of itself a human rights violation, as well as criminal negligence & malpractice.
As long as the State Department insists on continuing with discriminatory norms, and refuses to utilize federal and international law to protect and defend the rights and interests of American women and children residing abroad, I will be propelled to continue challenging the State Department’s & Obama Administration’s perpetual inaction in federal and/or international courts.
I hope that by bringing the aforementioned issues to the attention of the White House, the Obama Administration will examine and reverse its discriminatory policies, and cease and desist in its collaboration with the systematic oppression of women & children in the USA as well as countries around the world.
