Release date: Oct. 20, 2005

Carter Predicts Uphill Battle for U.S. Children's Rights

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

The rights of children around the world -- and within the U.S. itself -- are in dire need of protection, says former President Jimmy Carter, keynote speaker at a conference on children's rights, which opened Thursday, Oct. 20 at Emory University School of Law.

But Carter believes it will be a long, uphill battle to convince the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a 1989 resolution signed by all but two countries: Somalia and the U.S. "Of course I would like to see it ratified," he says. "If this was unanimous, nations who have passed it would be much more enthusiastic about implementing it."

The two-day conference, "What's Wrong with Rights for Children?" features more than a dozen distinguished scholars and children's rights advocates debating whether or not the United States should ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the obstacles to doing so. The event is hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

The obstacles to U.S. ratification of the agreement begin with our history as a nation forged from a union of semi-autonomous states, says Carter, speaking to a standing-room-only crowd in Tull Auditorium. "Major rights were left within the states," he says. "States rights remain precious to Americans. We have been adverse for a number of years to anything that encroaches on this [autonomy.]"

Likewise, the United States has a reverence for sovereignty and a strong aversion to "any interference by foreign governments or organizations," up to and including the United Nations, says Carter. In addition, he says the United States has a long tradition of refusing to sign any of a number of international treaties and agreements, including the Kyoto Global Warming Agreement, nuclear arms agreements, and any international human rights agreements. Indeed, if the United States does sign such an agreement, it often does so with the stipulation that it is "excluded from the provisions," says Carter.

There is also a group of Americans with firmly held religious convictions that family is inviolable and the father is the head of the household, who believe the Children's Convention would undermine the rights of parents.

"For a child to be elevated to a position of almost-equality is a disturbing thing" to those with this belief, says Carter, who was quick to add that an "escape clause" is contained within the Children's Convention stating that parents have the right to provide guidance and discipline to their children.

Religious beliefs are of increasing political relevance, says Carter, with the move in the United States toward fundamentalism in religion and government and the increasing effort to meld the two. "That's not the premise I was raised on," he says. "The separation of church and state is being increasingly challenged and broken down, not only in churches but at the highest levels of government."

Despite his pessimism about the ratification of the Children's Convention by the United States, Carter says he is hopeful that people can enthusiastically work together to help the world's children by implementing parts of the agreement, whether it is ratified or not.

"I was surprised when I reread the convention this morning as to how broad and far-reaching it is," he says. "I would encourage every parent and grandparent to read it."

The convention stipulates not only that children should be free from abuse and exploitation, and have freedom of expression, but that they should have "social and economic rights as well . . . such as a modicum of health care, education, and food."

"According to UNICEF, more than 1 billion people in the world are living in extreme deprivation today, many of them children," says Carter. "The two main causes of this are war and poverty."

Treaties and agreements are, by their nature, limited, says Carter, since they rely on voluntary implementation by the countries that have signed the accord. Likewise, he says, providing practical assistance with tangible resources, such as distributing free medications and teaching villages how to build latrines, need not wait for an international treaty to be signed.

Indeed, some countries with dictatorial leadership sign such human rights treaties "with alacrity," says Carter, but never apply the principles in a practical way. Children in Liberia, for instance, are dying from malaria because there aren't enough $5 bed nets coated with insecticide to go around. "The convention wouldn't change the conditions in Liberia one iota," he says, "but to insure that a child there has a bed net could save his life.

"Unnecessary suffering can be helped. Diseases can be eradicated," Carter said. "The approach we must take is peace, justice, generosity, respect, and active help for little children who are in need. That's the best way to come at the Convention of the Rights of the Child."

Conference sponsors include the John Templeton Foundation and the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love.

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. The center offers four joint degree programs in law and religion, 14 cross-listed courses, eight major research projects and dozens of individual and side research projects, several annual public forums, two book series, more than 300 published volumes, a visiting scholars and fellows program, and 75 senior fellows and associated faculty from more than 20 fields of study.

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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