The Human Rights Policy Seminar University of North Carolina School of Law A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT: MEANINGFUL ACCESS TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION Authors Howard Lintz Yallana McGee Ola Mohamed Safa Sajadi Sarah Sawyer Melanie Stratton Jordan Wolfe Deborah M. Weissman-Faculty Advisor June 2015 http://www.law.unc.edu/documents/academics/humanrights/malr.pdf The Human Rights Policy Seminar University of North Carolina School of Law A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT: MEANINGFUL ACCESS TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION Authors Howard Lintz Yallana McGee Ola Mohamed Safa Sajadi Sarah Sawyer Melanie Stratton Jordan Wolfe Deborah M. Weissman-Faculty Advisor June 2015 http://www.law.unc.edu/documents/academics/humanrights/malr.pdf ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Risa Kaufman and Erin Smith with the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School for their collaboration on this project. We are also grateful to Martha Davis, Deborah Labelle, and Sarah Paoletti for their insights and suggestions. We also want to acknowledge Lauren Bartlett at the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law for her support and encouragement, as well as John Pollock, Coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, Public Justice Center for his assistance. Deborah M. Weissman Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law UNC School of Law TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 The Importance of Access to Counsel in Instituting the Rule of Law and Defending Human Rights ..... 4 The Role of Lawyers in Establishing the Rule of Law and Defending Human Rights ............................ 6 The Importance of Meaningful and Effective Counsel ............................................................................. 6 I. International, Regional and Domestic Norms that Support Meaningful Access to Legal Representation .............................................................................................................................. 9 A. International Treaties ........................................................................................................................ 9 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights .................................................................................................................................................... 9 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ........................ 16 Convention Against Torture ................................................................................................................ 19 B. The Inter-American System ............................................................................................................ 21 American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man .................................................................... 21 American Convention .......................................................................................................................... 22 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 24 C. Inter-American System Special Rapporteurs – Reports & Documents .......................................... 25 Special Rapporteurship on Migrant Workers and Their Families ...................................................... 26 Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women ................................................................................ 29 Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty .............................................. 32 Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Afro-Descendants and Against Racial Discrimination ...... 34 Synopsis of the IACHR Special Rapporteurships................................................................................ 38 D. U.S. Jurisprudence .......................................................................................................................... 38 No Comprehensive Right to Counsel When Basic Human Needs Are At Stake .................................. 39 No Right to Counsel in Immigration Removal Proceedings ............................................................... 42 No Meaningful Access to Counsel in Criminal Cases ........................................................................ 43 U.S. Jurisprudence Does Not Meet Standard of Human Rights Norms .............................................. 44 II. Civil Legal Claims: Meaningful Access to Legal Representation & International Human Rights Norms ................................................................................................................. 45 A. Fundamental Rights and Meaningful Access to Legal Representation ........................................... 45 B. The Resource Gap and Indigent Services ....................................................................................... 48 Insufficient Funding ............................................................................................................................ 49 LSC’s Access to Legal Services is not Meaningful ............................................................................. 50 State Efforts Have Been Ineffective to Remedy Gap ........................................................................... 51 C. Family Integrity and Family Law Proceedings ............................................................................... 51 International and Human Rights Norms’ Recognition of Family Rights ............................................ 52 The Lack of MALR in Family Law and Termination of Parental Rights’ Proceedings ...................... 56 Disproportionate Impact of Foster Care on Poor, Rural, and Minority Families ............................. 58 The United States Has Failed to Comply With International and Regional Norms to Protect Family Integrity ............................................................................................................................................... 59 D. Housing and Landlord-Tenant Issues ............................................................................................. 59 Domestic Recognition of Housing as a Human Right ......................................................................... 61 Lack of MALR in Eviction Proceedings .............................................................................................. 62 Lack of MALR in Foreclosure Proceedings ........................................................................................ 63 Consequences of loss of home and homelessness ............................................................................... 66 Lawyer Assistance ............................................................................................................................... 67 Positive developments ......................................................................................................................... 68 The United States is Obligated to Provide MALR in Housing and Landlord-Tenant Related Matters ............................................................................................................................................................ 70 E. Income Maintenance and the Right to Subsistence ......................................................................... 71 Substantive Rights Under International Treaties ................................................................................ 71 Lack of MALR in Administrative Proceedings .................................................................................... 74 The United States Provides Inadequate Protection of International and Human Rights by Failing to Provide MALR in Administrative Proceedings ................................................................................... 76 F. Vulnerable Populations, Poverty, and the Justice Gap ................................................................... 77 Failing to Provide MALR to Women and People of Color Violates International Human Rights Norms .................................................................................................................................................. 79 MALR and Domestic Violence ............................................................................................................ 80 Lack of MALR Inhibits Women’s Ability to Fully Litigate Wage Discrimination Claims .................. 82 Racial Minorities: Disparate and Discriminatory Impact and the Need for MALR ........................... 84 The Civil Collateral Consequences of Criminal Records Adversely Impacts Racial Minorities ........ 87 Lack of MALR in Banking Proceedings Adversely Impacts Communities of Color ........................... 90 The United States Needs MALR for Vulnerable Groups to Meet International Human Rights Norms ............................................................................................................................................................ 91 G. Conclusion: Meaningful Access and Civil Legal Claims ............................................................... 92 III. Immigration: Meaningful Access to Legal Representation & International Human Rights