“The Rights of the Child” May Destroy Them
The most serious issue to come out of the 2009 NCHE Homeschool Conference is certainly the potential implication of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I could launch into a tirade of why the UN is an absolutely corrupt and worthless organization to begin with, but I’ll have to save that for another day.
The basic warning here is that if people don’t raise their voice in opposition to this, we may find ourselves without legal right to parent our children as we see fit. As was so aptly put in the Keynote address Friday morning, “some guy in Uganda will be 1 of 18 people deciding how you can parent in the US”.
Rather than rephrase what has been already so succintly stated, read Michael P. Farris’ article here: http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={2B53865E-A8C1-4FE6-AF67-08789FBE3C0A}&DE=
From the Article:
10 things you need to know about the STRUCTURE of the CRC:
1. It is a treaty which creates binding rules of law. It is no mere statement of altruism.1.
2. Its effect would be binding on American families, courts, and policy-makers.2.
3. Children of other nations would not be impacted or helped in any direct way by our ratification.3.
4. The CRC would automatically override almost all American laws on children and families because of the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause in Article VI.4.
5. The CRC has some elements that are self-executing, while others would require implementing legislation. Federal courts would have the power to determine which provisions were self-executing.5.
6. The courts would have the power to directly enforce the provisions that are self-executing.6.
7. Congress would have the power to directly legislate on all subjects necessary to comply with the treaty. This would constitute the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.7.
8. A committee of 18 experts from other nations, sitting in Geneva, has the authority to issue official interpretations of the treaty which are entitled to binding weight in American courts and legislatures. This effectively transfers ultimate authority for all policies in this area to this foreign committee.8.
9. Under international law, the treaty overrides even our Constitution.9.
10. Reservations, declarations, or understandings intended to modify our duty to comply with this treaty will be void if they are determined to be inconsistent with the object and purpose of the treaty.10.
Ten things you need to know about the substance of the CRC:
1. Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.11.
2. A murderer aged 17 years and 11 months and 29 days at the time of his crime could no longer be sentenced to life in prison.12.
3. Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.13.
4. The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent’s decision.14.
5. A child’s “right to be heard” would allow him (or her) to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.15.
6. According to existing interpretation, it would be illegal for a nation to spend more on national defense than it does on children’s welfare.16.
7. Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.17.
8. Christian schools that refuse to teach “alternative worldviews” and teach that Christianity is the only true religion “fly in the face of article 29″ of the treaty.18.
9. Allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.19.
10. Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services, including abortions, without parental knowledge or consent.20.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO SIGN THE PETITION TO FIGHT AGAINST THE U.S. RATIFYING THIS TREATY, PLEASE VISIT www.ParentalRights.org
The HSLDA (www.hslda.org) funded by homeschoolers is fighting this battle FOR YOU. They have been for some time. Its members pay $100 per year for legal representation should we ever need it in the ongoing fight for our right to homeschool. You don’t have to pay anything to sign their petition.