Posted on November 20, 2019
Today is not about baking cakes for kids, or giving kids gifts, or taking kids on outings. Instead, it is the anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Indeed, this year is the 30th anniversary!
That makes it a day to discuss children's rights, to encourage lawmakers in our nations to renew their commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to encourage children to consider their place in their own society and in the global community.
For those of us in the United States, it's a great day to consider why our nation is the only one in the whole U.N. that has signed the treaty but has not ratified it!!
The U.S. government contributed to the writing of the Convention, including text straight from the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. commented on almost all of the articles in the Convention, and proposed at least three under President Ronald Reagan.
Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties must be negotiated and signed by the president or her/his representative, and must then be submitted to the Senate for approval (two-thirds majority). Only after obtaining approval from the Senate can the treaty be returned to the president for final signature and ratification.
Here are the presidents who had a chance to send the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Senate:
G. H.W. Bush (Rep.)
Bill Clinton (Dem.)
G. W. Bush (Rep.)
Barack Obama (Dem.)
Donald Trump (Rep.)Apparently none of these presidents even sent it over to the Senate for discussion and vote!
There has been a lot of controversy over this Convention and other international agreements - and it has to do with people worrying that our nation's right to do things the way we want to do them might be squelched by international conventions and agreements. It has to do with people worrying about parents' rights, the right to homeschool, the right to choose education for our own kids, even the right to punish kids as we see fit.
A lot of the arguments against ratification are from very religious people, and some of the arguments are couched in religious terms.
On the other hand, there is also a lot of support in the U.S. for ratification. Some supporters point out that the problems seen by so many just don't exist - that people do not understand how human rights treaties are implemented in the U.S.
In 2015, the last two nations in the world, other than the U.S., ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Both South Sudan and Somalia ratified it, leaving the United States as the only-lonely non-ratifier. Yikes!
I'm not sure these ideas should be controversial:
It's pretty embarrassing to be the only nation that won't sign onto the CRC!
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