The Parliamentarians of the OSCE are coming to DC for the first time next month, and we are going make sure they pass a resolution condeming the U.S. government for it’s denial of voting rights to the 572,000 Washington, DC residents. This 4th of July might be more fun than last year!

A RESOLUTION
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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To declare, on an emergency basis, the sense of the Council on welcoming the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly to the District of Columbia and calling on them to adopt a resolution at their assembly in support of full voting rights for citizens of the District of Columbia.

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Sense of the Council in Support of Full and Equal Voting Rights for Citizens of the District of Columbia Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Emergency Resolution of 2005”.

Sec. 2. The Council finds that:
(1) The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is made up of 55 states, including the United States, from Europe, Central Asia, and North America, and forms the largest regional security organization in the world.
(2) OSCE institutions include negotiating, decision-making, and operational bodies, which deal with a wide range of issues including human rights issues.
(3) The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will hold its first Annual Session meeting in the United States July 1 through 5, in Washington, D.C.
(4) Approximately 572,000 residents of the District of Columbia, in violation of established international human rights standards, are denied full voting rights in their national legislature.
(5) Ensuring equal voting rights for citizens of member states is a fundamental OSCE commitment.

Sec. 3. It is the sense of the Council that:
(1) The Council of the District of Columbia welcomes the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to Washington, D.C., and to the United States.
(2) The Council calls on the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to adopt a resolution at its Annual Session observing that the approximately 572,000 residents of Washington, D.C., continue to be denied equal and full voting rights in the United State House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and insisting that the government of the United States adopt such legislation as may be necessary to grant the residents of its capital city equal and full voting rights in their own national legislature.

Sec. 4. The Secretary of the Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit copies of this resolution upon its adoption to the President of the United States, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Delegate to the United States Congress, the chairpersons of the committees of the United States Congress with oversight and budgetary jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, the presiding officer of the OSCE and to the presiding officer of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly.

Sec. 5. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Registar.

Now I really need to work on the website www.osceindc.com