Mr. President, Children Have Rights

On November 20th, 1989 the United Nations signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Since then it has been signed and ratified by all members of the UN accept Somalia and the United States.  Although the Regan Administration had a large part in creating the Convention, it wasn’t signed until 1995 and still has yet to be legally ratified by the Senate (as required by the American Constitution).  In this article I’d like to give you a little more of the history of Washington’s relationship with the Convention and then move on to what should be done about it today and why.

The Convention contains 53 articles reviewing and guaranteeing the basic human rights of all young people around the world.  Some of the articles are universally supported by politicians and public officials of every political stripe, such as Article 7’s claim that “[The child] …shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”  Some, on the other hand, are the source of a large amount of political debate and controversy in the US, for example, Article 37 prohibits the sentencing of minor to life imprisonment without the chance of parole, a practice employed in many U.S. states.  Clinton took a mixed approach to the Convention, perhaps because of its controversial nature.

UN Ambassador under Clinton, Madeline Albright, signed the bill in ‘95, but it was never sent on to the Senate.  Its possible that the administration looked into trying to pass it and feared rejection from the GOP’s strong standing in Congress at the time.  It could just as easily be true that he was unwilling to use the political capital needed to get it passed.  Either way Clinton left office with the Convention left in limbo.

Another section that met with criticism was article 24’s first clause, “States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.” (emphasis added)  The second Bush Administration objected to the convention and came out strongly against it in statements such as the one quoted here.

“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.” (link)

-E. Michael Southwick, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs

The key word here is economic.  If Article 24 were carried to its natural conclusion there would be a responsibility for the federal government to give health insurance to the eight million American minors, that’s about 12% of all American kids (and growing in this economy) who are living without it.  A large portion of the conservative base could not stand such an intrusion on the free market, even if it means leaving the kids uninsured.  Some, such as the evangelical Christian aid organization World View and The Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child have endorsed the Convention but their work didn’t make many waves in the main stream media.  So the Convention remained out of sight and out of mind for the majority of the Bush years.

In the 2008 Presidential race Senators McCain and Obama were asked to weigh in on the Convention during a debate.  You can see each of their responses here.  The responses each come out a bit vague and political.  Now-President Obama goes so far as to call the situation embarrassing but then backs off to promise a “review” of the situation.  Well, now that he is in office I’d like to sit down and talk to him about that review.

I know as well as you do that the economy has seen better days Mr. President, but this signature is just the kind of thing our country needs to show that the new administration supports more international cooperation.  Oh and while you are fixing health care, make sure you get to each and every one of those eight million kids.

For more info on the convention, or to donate money to the effort to make it law, check out childrightscampaign.org/ or write to the President and tell him yourself.