Press Briefing – October 1, 2018

Please see below press briefing in relation to Case No. 13.326 before the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights 169th Ordinary Plenary Session on October 5, 2018.

Pursuing Equality for U.S. Citizens of Puerto Rico

Twelve years ago, Petitioners – including Dr. Pedro Rosselló, the former Governor of Puerto Rico –
brought a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asserting that, in denying the
then 4 million US citizens of Puerto Rico the right to vote for President and voting representation in
Congress, while at the same time applying all federal law applies to Puerto Rico, the United States is
violating international human rights standards.

In 2016, the Commission formally admitted their petition. Recently, the Members of Congress
representing the US territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin
Islands wrote to the Commission to express support for the Petitioner’s request for a hearing before the
Commission. On 31 August 2018, they wrote:

“Almost four million Americans call the U.S. territories their home. We represent those Americans in the
U.S. House of Representatives, but are not permitted to vote for their interests on the House Floor. Our
constituents are denied representation in the United States Senate and are barred from the general
election for President and Vice President. This is unquestionably a breach of fundamental human rights,
including those protected by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. We urge the
Commission to grant the petitioners a hearing…”

In a welcome and much needed development in the case, the Commission granted a hearing for October
5, 2018 – almost 12 years to the day after the petition was originally filed. The hearing details are:

169th Ordinary Period of Sessions

October 5, 2018 from 11:30am – 1:00pm
Schaden Commons Room, Wolf Law Building, 401
University of Colorado Law School
2450 Kittredge Loop Road
Boulder, Colorado 80309

Both the Petitioners and the United States have filed Submissions on the Merits (attached). The United
States has argued for the Commission to throw out the case on jurisdictional grounds while also
vehemently denying that it is in breach of international human rights law. Naturally, the allegations of
discrimination against a U.S. territory have brought to the surface the issue of statehood for Puerto Rico.
The Petitioners make no attempt to hide their support for Puerto Rico to become the 51st State, however,
this case is about human rights violations. In June 2018, Puerto Rico’s non-voting Members of Congress
introduced a bill that would do just that by 2021. The United States has argued that this political process
should prohibit the Commission from ruling on the issue, however, that submission misses the point
entirely – the question the Commission has been asked in this case is not whether the United States
may, consistently with its Constitution, deprive these millions of citizens voting rights, but whether it may
do so consistently with international law. The Commission has no jurisdiction to consider the issue of
statehood, other than assessing whether the discriminatory effect of Puerto Rico’s current status results
in violations of international human rights law.

The Commission has previously considered the economic crisis facing Puerto Rico, in a hearing on
December 7, 2017 – the Commission heard from a coalition of civic and academic groups of Puerto
Rico who denounced an alarming increase in poverty and devastation post hurricane Maria. The United
States has received widespread condemnation of its treatment of Puerto Rico following last year’s
hurricanes. Soon after Hurricane Maria, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha,
said: “We can’t fail to note the dissimilar urgency and priority given to the emergency response in Puerto
Rico, compared to the US states affected by hurricanes in recent months.” The Commission itself has
expressed concern that the U.S. response to the situation in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria was
slower and less efficient than to situations in other parts of the country.

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However, the Petitioner’s factual basis for the case is much wider than the discrimination faced in the
federal emergency response to environmental disasters. For example, 2014 research from the U.S.
Government Accountability Office indicates that the federal income support program applied to Puerto
Rico, as it does in the other 50 states, an estimated 320,000 vulnerable people, who suffer from
unemployment, old age, and/or disability, would be eligible to receive life changing financial assistance.

The hearing on October 5 will be attended by a large delegation from the Government of Puerto Rico,
including the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló; the Secretary of State for Puerto Rico; the
President of the Puerto Rico Senate; the Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and the
Shadow Congressional Representative for Puerto Rico.

The issues to be argued before the Commission have garnered a lot of media attention recently:

• Puerto Rico’s Governor Ramps Up Push for Statehood on Anniversary of Maria,

Washington Post, September 20, 2018.

• Trump an ‘Absolute No’ on Puerto Rico Statehood Because of San Juan’s ‘Horror Show’ of
a Mayor, Washington Post, September 24, 2018.

• Puerto Rico Governor Asks Trump to Consider Statehood, The Hill, September 19, 2018

• Ricardo Rosselló’s Letter to Donald Trump on Hurricane Maria’s Anniversary is Intense,

Elite Daily, September 20, 2018.

• Inter-American Commission On Human Rights Summons the US About the Status of Puerto
Rico, Elenuevodia (English), September 11, 2018

• Puerto Rico Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Become 51st State, NBC, June 28, 2018

For your reference and use, please see below quotes attributable to the Petitioners:

Mr Luis Berrios Amedeo, Esq.

o “We filed this case 12 years ago and this week, on Friday October 5, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights will finally consider the question of whether the United States is a
true democracy.”’
o “Congress discriminates against its citizens in Puerto Rico to the tune of billions of dollars each-
and-every year. This discrimination only arises from our complete and total exclusion from the
democratic process. If the US citizens of Puerto Rico had the right to voting representation in
Congress and the right to vote for President, this simply wouldn’t happen.”
o “Today there are over 20,000 men and women from Puerto Rico serving in the armed forces of
the United States, over 12,000 in the reserve forces, and 100,000 veterans that served honorably
residing in the territory. All these heroes have never had a say in who their Commander in-Chief
is and no say in the political body that has the power to send them to war.”

Former Governor Pedro Rosselló:

o “Like everywhere else in the United States, U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico are subject to federal law.
But unlike the residents of the 50 States, we have neither the right to send voting representatives
to the Congress that passes federal laws nor the right to vote for the President who enforces
federal law.”
o “We are asking this Commission to answer the question whether the state of affairs – where
almost 3.5 million U.S. citizens don’t have a right to vote for President, Senators, or voting
Members of Congress – meets universally recognized human-rights standards under international
law.”
o “In this Petition we are asking the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to recognise our
right to vote and to participate in government; the right to equality before the law; and the right to
be recognized as people worthy of civil rights.”

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To contact the IACHR please contact María Isabel Rivero, Press and Communication Director, +1 (202)
370-9000, cidh-prensa@oas.org. To contact the U.S. Mission to the OAS, please call +1 202-647-9376.

If you are interested in finding out more and would like access to the online case file, which includes all
of the documents filed in this case, or to arrange an interview with the Petitioner and/or Petitioners’
Counsel, Orlando Vidal, please contact the Petitioners’ legal representatives using details provided
below:

Hector Sharp
Solicitor, qualified in Australia
Norton Rose Fulbright (Middle East) LLP
4th Floor, Gate Precinct Building 3, Dubai International Financial Centre, PO Box 103747, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Tel +971 4 369 6336 | UAE +971 50 708 2792 | AUS +61 449 143 497 | USA +1 202 744 2776
hector.h.sharp@nortonrosefulbright.com”