The Rights of Children--the US and Somalia only two countries who haven't

[Bouncy Ball]

signed.

Some of the rights of children as identified in the Convention for Children's Rights are the right to their opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, access to appropriate information, and this one I found particularly interesting:

Article 18 - Parental responsibilities
Parents have joint primary responsibility for raising the child, and the State shall support them in this. The State shall provide appropriate assistance to parents in child-raising.

This one's worth noting, too:

Article 24 - Health and health services
The child has a right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the provision of primary and preventive health care, public health education, and the reduction of infant morality. They shall encourage international cooperation in this regard and strive to see that no child is deprived of access to effective health services.

(from http://www.amnestyusa.org/children/crn_summary.html)

Hmmmm.


Q: Who has not ratified and why not?
A: The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history. Only two countries, Somalia and the United States, have not ratified this celebrated agreement. Somalia is currently unable to proceed to ratification as it has no recognized government. By signing the Convention, the United States has signalled its intention to ratify – but has yet to do so.

As in many other nations, the United States undertakes an extensive examination and scrutiny of treaties before proceeding to ratify. This examination, which includes an evaluation of the degree of compliance with existing law and practice in the country at state and federal levels, can take several years – or even longer if the treaty is portrayed as being controversial or if the process is politicized. For example, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide took more than 30 years to be ratified in the United States and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which was signed by the United States 17 years ago, still has not been ratified. Moreover, the US Government typically will consider only one human rights treaty at a time. Currently, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is cited as the nation's top priority among human rights treaties.

http://www.unicef.org/crc/crc.htm

So my question is, why does it take so long to ratify something? This thing was created in 1989. 16 years??? Or is there some reasong the US won't ratify it?

[justinsb]

1. Somalia has an excuse

They don't (officially) have a government at the moment so they can't ratify anything.

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Right.

Their reason is pretty damn understandable. No government, no ratifying anything.

But what the hell is our deal? Just not important? I mean surely a country the size of the US can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[justinsb]

5. There is no excuse

But then you add it to the list, Kyoto, the International Treaty on Land Mines, the International Criminal Court etc, etc. The US is , according to most international standards, a rougue state.

I'm in Canada now (split after the first time Bush was elected) and the only major international treaty (I'm aware of) that Canada hasn't ratified is the one about Water being a human right - and there is a good reason for that. It's not that we don't think it is a human right, it's just that Canada has an awful lot of it and the US is right below us and has yet to realize that water is far, far more valuable than oil so until that sinks in a bit, no one here is in a hurry to grant it as an absolute right.

[Maple]

3. The US insists

that only the US govt can pass any laws, and that world bodies have nothing to say about it.

Looks good to rightwing voters is the rationale.

Even though many other things have been signed and remained obscure, some things are considered 'showy' and this is one of them.

[Bouncy Ball]

4. Showy?

I don't get it, how is this showy?

It seems pretty bad that the US is the only country with a government that hasn't ratified it. Yeesh. It's a good list of rights, too.

[Maple]

6. Everybody would notice it

Especially all those old-tyme religions that believe in, shall we say, harsh upbringings for the little sinners.

And there would be ...er...hell to pay...if some 'Frenchie' was seen to be having a say in how a 'genuine Amarican' raised his kids.

I'm trying to be delicate here...work with me.

[Bouncy Ball]

7. Ah, yes, gotcha.