CHILDRENS RIGHTS PROGRAM
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

FACTS

• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a major international treaty which establishes a set of internationally recognized standards for individual nations to achieve on behalf of their children.
• The CRC requires that children be protected from violence, abuse, exploitation, and forced or hazardous labor.
• The CRC guarantees children have access to adequate nutrition, health care, and free compulsory primary education.
• The CRC provides that children receive equal treatment regardless of gender, race, or cultural background.
• The CRC protects childrens basic freedoms of expression, thought, and association; and basic rights to leisure, play, and participation in cultural and artistic activities.
• The CRC recognizes the special vulnerability and needs of children and it continually aims to promote the best interests of the child.
• The CRC emphasizes the primacy and importance of parents and the family unit in guiding and protecting the child throughout growth and development.
• The CRC is not a threat to U.S. national or state sovereignty, because its provisions will only be implemented through domestic legislative and judicial action. Furthermore, no treaty can override the U.S. Constitution.
• Most of the programs needed to implement the CRC already exist in the U.S. and any increased funding needed for such programs would pale in comparison to the long-term medical and criminal justice costs of not implementing the CRCs provisions.

CURRENT STATUS

• The CRC is the most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history, with 191 nations participating.
• The United States and Somalia are the only two countries yet to ratify this agreement.
• The majority of claims made in opposition to the CRC stem from mistaken assumptions that the treaty will usurp national and state sovereignty, undermine parental authority, allow the UN to dictate how we raise our children, and encourage children to sue their parents, join gangs, have abortions, etc.
• Given the lengthy and extensive review process of international treaties in the U.S., widespread public support and awareness of the CRC is needed to prioritize ratification.

ABOUT UNITED STATES RATIFICATION

The majority of claims made in opposition to the Childrens Convention stem from the mistaken assumptions that the treaty will usurp national and state sovereignty and undermine parental authority.

The Childrens Convention is not a threat to U.S. national or state sovereignty because its provisions will only be implemented through domestic legislative and judicial action. Furthermore, no treaty can override the U.S. Constitution.

The treaty emphasizes the primacy and importance of parents and the family unit in guiding and protecting the child throughout growth and development.

Most of the programs needed to implement the Childrens Convention already exist in the U.S. and any increased funding needed for such programs would pale in comparison to the long-term medical and criminal justice costs of not implementing the Childrens Conventions provisions.