Civics 201

The week of March 14 was Civics 101. This is defintiely Civics 201. I am still trying to convince the state legislature that the UN Council on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a bad idea. You MUST read this thing. The whole treaty is, of course, a good sized paperback book. An abbreviated version can be found here.

Consider these (and no, this is not a joke):

Right to Freedom of Expression: This right shall include the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through any other media of the child's choice.

Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion: The state would only need to respect a parent's "rights and duties...to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right." Thus, a child could join a cult and prevent the parent from interfering with his or her "right" to do so.

Right to Freedom of Association: A child could determine who his or her friends are against their parents' wishes. (Can you say "online predator"?)

Right to Privacy: A child could not be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence. This could include a right to abortion or sexual activity.

Right to Mass Media(Yes, a right to Mass Media): This right would ensure the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources.

In order to enforce these "rights" a child would simply have to call a social worker to report their parents for violating their rights. If this treaty becomes binding, the government would have the power to intervene in a child's life "for the best interest of the child." Currently, the government can intervene in this fashion only by going to court and proving that parents have been abusive or have neglected their children. This means that whenever the UN-dominated social services system thought that your parental choices were not the best, the government would have the power to override your choices and protect your child from you.
The ability to homeschool one's children would become not a right, but a UN-supervised activity that could be overturned if social services personnel believed that it would be "best" for your child to receive another form of education. Moreover, children would be required to be taught in a religiously "tolerant manner". (The American Bar Association, which supports the treaty, has already opined that teaching children that Jesus is the only way to God violates the spirit and meaning of the UNCRC.) Ah, yep. It would become illegal to teach you rchildren your Christian faith.

These are not idle speculations, but the proven result of the UN's own interpretation of the treaty as they have reviewed other nations' compliance with the treaty's provisions.

(hat tip:HSLDA)

If you haven't had enough, more information about the concerns with the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child are found here.