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Release date: Oct. 20, 2005 Should U.S. Children be Protected by International Human Rights Agreements?
Contact: April Bogle: 404-712-8713, abogle@law.emory.edu "What's Wrong with Rights for Children?" a two-day conference at Emory University School of Law, opened Thursday with a distinguished panel of children's rights advocates discussing whether or not the United States should ratify the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children's Convention has been ratified by every country in the world, except for Somalia and the United States, even though the U.S. played a leading role in drafting it. Despite heroic efforts, children remain the most "voiceless, voteless, and vulnerable" members of society, says John Witte, Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory, which is hosting the conference. Many children are being raised in poverty without guaranteed health care or proper safeguards, says Witte. "Katrina made it shockingly clear that these children are our neighbors," he says. "We intend to ask a number of hard questions about children's rights." Jaap Doek, chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and a panelist at the conference, says "the most fundamental requirement is that the child is recognized and fully respected as a human being with rights." Philip Alston of New York University's School of Law says the "paradoxical nature" of the Children's Convention has made it a hard sell in the United States, and has held up its ratification by the U.S. Congress. The perception that the document should be ratified as a matter of course and that the only real challenge is implementation is "misleading," he says. "In point of fact," Alston says, "we are dealing with a complex set of issues. This convention is either routine, and no big deal, or it is a huge deal, and is important because it is deeply transformative. To not engage in these debates is to bury our heads in the sand. We are only just beginning to tackle the tough issues." While the convention was signed by President Bill Clinton, it has not been ratified by Congress, and the current administration has openly criticized it, says Alston. "The convention is only a starting point, a tool, for those who want to bring about deeper change." Panelist Landon Pearson, a Canadian Senator and children's rights advocate, says implementation of these rights is the challenge, both for Canada, which has ratified the convention, and the U.S., which has not. "Our countries share a common perception of the family as a protected area," Pearson says. "Too many people in North America simply do not believe that children should have rights." 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 more than a decade 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. To access News@Emory RSS feeds, click here.
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