The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) just turned 20 years old on November 20. The CRC is an international convention that sets out the civil, political, economic, and social rights of children around the world. It maintains a baseline method of rights and liberties that are inherently due to children. Countries that ratify the CRC are bound by international law to comply with it. Invigilation of each country is done by way of a UN committee composed of signatories that monitor child rights and a report is submitted to the UN General Assembly once a year.
The United States played a very vital role in drafting the Convention by commenting on every article and actually drafting the text of several of them (many of the articles are based on our Constitution). The US is the reason why many of the other member nations of the UN decided to sign onto the CRC. In 1995, US Ambassador to the UN Albright signed the convention, but it was never ratified. As of last month, 194 countries have ratified the CRC, including every member of the UN except Somalia and the United States. To add more shame to the US, last month Somalia’s cabinet announced its intention to ratify the treaty.
This is not a situation where America is on the fence about whether to ratify. As President George W. Bush stated, “The Convention on the Rights of the Child may be a positive tool for promoting child welfare for those countries that have adopted it. But we believe the text goes too far when it asserts entitlements based on economic, social and cultural rights. The human rights-based approach poses significant problems as used in this text.” It does not sound very amiable to ratification, does it? Senator Jesse Helms, who is a former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the CRC a “bag of worms” that wants to “chip away at the US Constitution.”
Why is there such volcanic loathing for this Convention? The issue seems to be about sovereignty and federalism. The state government, not the federal, handles laws for the protection of children, and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution does not allow federal law to supersede state law in this realm. Further, the Supreme Court has ruled on several cases that no law, federal or state, shall be allowed to meddle with the parent-child relationship. Areas such as Article 12 of the Convention make religious conservatives uneasy because of the attack it may have on traditional family life: “Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child."
Further, many political conservatives opposing ratification feel that the US will lose some of its sovereignty in controlling issues of child rights within its borders if the CRC is absorbed. They feel that the UN has become intrusive in these regards and want to maintain the American way of life without having an international body looking in. Additionally for practicality purposes, the Convention would prohibit the death penalty for minors. Before the Supreme Court Decision in Roper v. Simmons in 2005, states were allowed to execute juveniles for capital crimes. This was one of the stumbling blocks that made previous administrations speak against ratification.
However, with added pressure being put on this new administration to follow through on its promises of change, proponents hope that the United States will finally erase the grim distinction of being the only developed nation to not ratify this important Convention. While campaigning, President Obama said, "It's important that the United States return to its position as a respected global leader and promoter of human rights. It's embarrassing to find ourselves in the company of Somalia, a lawless land. I will review this and other treaties and ensure that the United States resumes its global leadership in human rights." Hopefully this was not merely campaign poetry to stir the masses.
Ratification would establish comprehensive policies to attack the ever-growing issues of human trafficking, child abuse, honor killings, female genital mutilation, and forced marriage. Author Walter Dean Myer at a recent PEN America event on this topic spoke of a cynicism of the government against children, where minors were not given the same fundamental rights as adults because of the lack of respect forwarded to them. He once wrote, “Cutting people out of your life is easy, keeping them in is hard.” Children must be taken off the chopping block in this and any regard. Children must be given every right and advantage possible. If President Obama truly believes in change, it must start with the CRC.
