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Domestic Violence Protection

Mother of Slain Children Takes Case
to International Tribunal

ACLU Files First-Ever Domestic Violence Complaint
With Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of Jessica Gonzales, the Colorado mother whose three girls were killed by her estranged husband and whose domestic violence protection claims were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition, the first of its kind, asserts that domestic violence victims have the right to be protected by the state from the violent acts of their abusers.

In June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Gonzales when it found that the Constitution does not recognize an entitlement by domestic violence victims to enforcement of their protective orders.The ACLU of Colorado participated in Ms. Gonzales' case as an amicus.

Gonzales' three children were brutally murdered by her estranged husband when Castle Rock police did not enforce her restraining order against her husband. She repeatedly called the police, telling them of her fears for the safety of her daughters and guiding them to the girls’ location. The police failed to respond and several hours later all three children were shot and killed by their father, the abductor.

The ACLU said that its concern are not limited to the Gonzales case. It extends more broadly to all victims of domestic violence who are not adequately protected by law enforcement. This case is the first individual complaint against the United States brought before any international human rights body for the violation of the rights of victims of domestic violence.

The ACLU petition seeks compensation for the violation of Gonzales’ rights, adoption by the United States of necessary measures to deter the commission of similar crimes, and an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the obligations of the United States under international law to protect victims of domestic violence.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was created in 1959 and is expressly authorized to examine allegations of human rights violations by members of the Organization of American States, which include the United States. It also carries out on-site visits to observe the general human rights situations in all 35 member states of the Organization of American States and to investigate specific allegations of violations of Inter-American human rights treaties. Its charge is to promote the observance and the defense of human rights in the Americas.

Gonzales is represented now by Bettinger-Lopez, Emily Martin and Lenora Lapidus of the ACLU Women's Rights Project and Ann Beeson and Steven Watt of the ACLU Human Rights Working Group.

The ACLU’s petition in Gonzales v. USA is available here.

More information about Jessica Gonzales’ Supreme Court case is available here.

Click here to read more about the case.

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