[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 353 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 353

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning human 
                   rights and due process in Ecuador.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 5, 1998

  Mr. Kingston (for himself, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Callahan, Mrs. 
Fowler, Mr. Traficant, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Barrett of Nebraska, Mrs. Maloney 
     of New York, and Mr. Deal of Georgia) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning human 
                   rights and due process in Ecuador.

Whereas the House of Representatives welcomes efforts by the Ecuadoran Congress 
        to recognize and uphold the rule of law in Ecuador;
Whereas the Ecuadoran Congress has initiated the process to release United 
        States citizen James Gordon Williams of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, who 
        has been unlawfully detained and denied due process of law in Ecuador 
        for 16 months without resolution of his case;
Whereas 800 prisoners in Ecuador have already been released in recent months 
        because of due process concerns;
Whereas James Williams, whose business was based in Jacksonville, Florida, is 
        not currently under indictment for any crime in the United States and 
        has never been charged with or convicted of a crime in the United 
        States;
Whereas the United States has concurrent jurisdiction with Ecuador over the 
        crime with which James Williams is charged in Ecuador and this 
        resolution will not protect Mr. Williams from any prosecution by legal 
        authorities in the United States;
Whereas this resolution is not a determination of the guilt or innocence of 
        James Williams;
Whereas James Williams' extended imprisonment without a trial is in violation of 
        Ecuador's obligation under section 5 of article 7 of the American 
        Convention on Human Rights, Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica (November 7-22, 
        1969), which requires the release of a detained defendant who has not 
        received a trial within a reasonable period of time;
Whereas this resolution demonstrates that the House of Representatives supports 
        the efforts of the Ecuadoran Congress to address the deprivation of 
        legal rights of Americans and other prisoners in the Ecuadoran system;
Whereas, according to the 1996 Department of State Country Report on Human 
        Rights Practices for Ecuador--
            (1) ``the most fundamental human rights abuse stems from 
        shortcomings in the politicized and inefficient legal and judicial 
        system. People are subject to arbitrary arrest; once incarcerated, they 
        may wait years before coming to trial unless they resort to paying 
        bribes.'' (page 434);
            (2) ``The [Ecuadoran] Constitution and the Penal Code provide that 
        no one may be deprived of liberty without a written order from a 
        governmental authority, but the authorities often violated these legal 
        protections against arbitrary arrest or detention.'' (page 436);
            (3) ``Human rights organizations reported occasional cases of 
        incommunicado detention, although the law prohibits this practice. 
        Despite provisions of the Penal Code, the police often detained suspects 
        without the required written order. Even when an order was obtained, 
        those charged with determining the validity of detention often allowed 
        frivolous charges to be brought, either because they were overworked or 
        because the accuser bribed them. In many instances, the system was used 
        as a means of harassment in civil cases in which one party sought to 
        have the other arrested on criminal charges.'' (page 437); and
            (4) ``The [Ecuadoran] Constitution provides for an independent 
        judiciary. In practice, however, the judiciary is susceptible to outside 
        pressure. . . The law provides for internationally accepted due process 
        rights for criminal defendants, but the authorities often did not 
        observe these rights in practice.'' (page 437); and
Whereas in a diplomatic note dated November 14, 1996, the United States 
        ``register[ed] its grave concern over the failure of the [Ecuadoran] 
        National Police to properly notify the Consulate of Mr. Williams' 
        arrest,'' in violation of Article 38 of the Vienna Consular Convention 
        and further requested that ``the [Ecuadoran] Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
        investigate the reports of maltreatment [of Mr. Williams] and denial of 
        legitimate access to legal counsel and provide the results of its 
        investigation to the Embassy'' and the Ecuadoran Government has not 
        responded to the diplomatic note: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives denounces the disregard 
for and violation of legal and human rights within the Ecuadoran 
judicial system of United States citizen James Gordon Williams of 
Jacksonville, Florida, and any other persons who have been held without 
cause or deprived of due process of law and supports action by the 
Ecuadoran legislature to address these problems, including by means of 
the release of Mr. Williams to the United States.
                                 <all>