International law is for wusses

On Wednesday, the United States was found by the International Court of Justice at The Hague to have violated the human rights of 51 Mexican men now on death row in US prisons by failing to provide them with a fair trial.

Under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, of which both the US and Mexico are signatories, the US was required to tell the men of their right to receive legal assistance from their consulates. Because they were never informed of that right, they may not have received the level of help to which they were entitled and therefore may have been convicted unfairly. The court said the convictions should be reviewed.

The court's decisions are legally binding.

But in a similar case, the court ordered the US to stay the execution of a German national in 1999 - he was put to death nevertheless.

Ignoring international law and treaty obligations whenever they prove inconvenient being something else that did not suddenly appear under the Bush regime.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Star reported on April 2 that

Mexican President Vicente Fox said Friday the International Court of Justice and the United Nations will have to take action if the United States doesn't comply with a ruling that it review the cases of 51 Mexicans on death row.

In an interview with the board of directors for The Associated Press Managing Editors, Fox declined to say, however, whether Mexico would take additional measures if the U.S. government does not follow the order.

Fox hinted he might try to get the Security Council to pass a resolution, but of course that won't happen and he knows it. If the effort is made at all, it will be to try to shame the US by bringing world attention to the matter.

But seeing as how we're shameless, I don't expect it to amount to anything.

Footnote: As usual, I try to imagine what would happen if the situation was reversed, if there were 51 Americans on death row in Mexico who hadn't been told of their right to consular assistance and Washington thought they hadn't gotten a fair trial. Why, we'd be making all kinds of diplomatic prot -

Oh wait, I'm sorry, that couldn't happen. Mexico's death penalty is only for the most extraordinary circumstances and no one has been executed by a civilian court since 1937.