Release date: Aug. 25, 2005

Carter, Marty to Speak at Emory Conference on Children's Rights

For a live webcast of this event click here.

Contact:
Elaine Justice: 404-727-0643, elaine.justice@emory.edu
April Bogle: 404-712-8713, abogle@law.emory.edu

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and renowned church historian Martin E. Marty will take the stage together again at Emory Law School, presenting keynote addresses at the public conference "What's Wrong With Rights for Children?" Oct. 20-21, 2005.

"This event will probe why the United States has chosen not to ratify the United Nations' 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)--the only country other than Somalia not to sign this document," says John Witte Jr., director of Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR), which is hosting the event.

Carter and Marty return to the stage together as a follow-up to a 2003 center event, titled "What Happens to Children in Peril?" where Carter posed a challenge to the audience. At the forum, which was a conversation between Carter and Marty, Carter chastised the United States for not signing the CRC, then challenged the audience to address why it has not.

"The CRC was drafted with heavy influence of the United States during the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and it strongly reflects American concerns and interests," says conference co-convener Jeremy Gunn, director for the Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at the American Civil Liberties Union and senior fellow in the CSLR. "For almost all countries in the world, the CRC has been relatively uncontroversial. But despite the heavy U.S. influence in the document, ratification of it by the United States immediately became caught up in domestic 'culture wars' and it was never submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification."

"Fierce opponents of the CRC asserted that it is an attack on the family and have warned of dramatic consequences if it were to be ratified. For many outside the United States, the failure to ratify the CRC is one of the quintessential examples of American hypocrisy and unilaterialism," Gunn says.

In addition to presentations and discussions by leading CRC scholars and authorities, conference speakers are charged with developing a recommendation on whether the United States should ratify the CRC in its current form or with revision. Among the speakers are:

Frank S. Alexander, Emory Law School

Philip Alston, New York University School of Law

Don S. Browning, University of Chicago Divinity School

Cynthia Price Cohen, ChildRights International Research Institute

Howard Davidson, American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law

Jaap E. Doek, Chair, U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child

Martha Albertson Fineman, Emory Law School

Martin Guggenheim, New York University School of Law

T. Jeremy Gunn, ACLU and Emory Law School

Kimberly J. Jenkins, Emory Law School

Michael J. Perry, Emory Law School

The Honorable Landon Pearson, The Senate of Canada

Martin I. Scherr, Campaign for the U.S. Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

David M. Smolin, Cumberland Law School

Johan D. van der Vyver, Emory Law School

John Witte, Jr., Emory Law School

Karen Worthington, Emory Law School

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. One hour of professionalism CLE credit and 5 plus hours of general CLE credit are available at the per-hour rate stipulated by each local bar association. For more information, go to www.law.emory.edu/cslr or call 404-712-8710.

The CSLR, one of The Pew Charitable Trusts' Centers of Excellence, explores the intersection of religious traditions and their influence on law, politics and society. Officially to be renamed the Center for the Study of Law and Religion in September 2005, the CSLR represents the collective programs of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion and the Law and Religion program at Emory University.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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