Law Students' Resolution Approved by ABA

The American Bar Association's policy-making House of Delegates has approved a resolution brought by the Law Student Division that encourages federal, state and local law enforcement authorities to adopt a warning of rights, similar to the standard "Miranda" warning, to advise foreign nationals of their rights when they are arrested or detained in the United States. The resolution was approved by the Law Student Division's Board of Governors at its April 1998 meeting.

Under the Vienna Convention treaty, signed by the United States in 1970, foreign nationals have the right to assistance from their home country's consular office. U.S. citizens arrested abroad often take advantage of this right, but American law enforcement officers don't always know of this right when they arrest or detain a foreign national here.

Former Law Student Division Delegate Salvador Cicero, a recent graduate of the Ohio State University College of Law, brought the division's resolution to the floor of the House of Delegates at the ABA's Annual Meeting in Toronto in August. He says it illustrates an important pointCthat the division is not limited to considering only law student issues. "We have to bring issues like this one to make our division relevant, even in the absence of something that affects us," he says.

The resolution passed with no opposition.

This issue recently received international attention. In a Virginia criminal case, a Paraguayan national was sentenced to death. Paraguay requested a temporary stay from the International Court of Justice because the convicted had not been notified of his right to consular assistance. Although the court, including the American judge, unanimously recommended the stay, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asked the governor of Virginia to honor the request, the prisoner was executed.

Lee Farbman