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National Magazines Promote the UNCRC Since 37 lawmakers signed on to SR99 back in April, the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) would face a predetermined defeat if it were introduced for ratification in the U.S. Senate. But that hasn’t kept the treaty – by which nations obligate themselves to fulfill “the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of children” - from popping up in some generally non-political national publications in the past couple of weeks.
Several of you have commented to us that the last page of a recent edition of Parents magazine includes ratification of the CRC on a 15-item “wish list” the publishers hope to see in the next 15 years. And a recent article by Alex Wolff at CNN-Sports Illustrated’s SI.com promoting sports as a means for international social change and the promotion of peace (both good things) also counts it lamentable that the U.S. has not ratified this dangerous treaty.
In its online version, Parents features a simple slide-show frame (number 12 of 24) that says: “Our Wish: All countries adopt the United Nation Rights of Children (sic), which protects kids from hunger and maltreatment.” The write-up from Sports Illustrated takes the familiar tack of asserting that the U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world by not ratifying the treaty, without actually naming any benefits or pitfalls of said ratification. Readers are not supposed to question the content of the treaty or its impact on U.S law under our Constitution. The rest of the world has ratified it, so we should, too.
I can still hear Mom’s response to that: “And if the rest of the world jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you want to do that, too?”
Perhaps someone with connections is pushing for these mentions in unusual places. Perhaps the writers and publishers just honestly don’t know that ratifying the CRC would allow a U.N. committee to set policy that our courts would hold as binding on American families. The writers of Sports Illustrated have shown in the past an understanding that parents are generally the good guys, and that even exceptional children rarely become exceptional adults without their parents leading the way. One would suppose from the title that “Parents” would espouse that same understanding.
So, we must assume these writers simply don’t know what it is they are suggesting. That being the case, here are a few things you may want to do: Action Items 1. If you subscribe to either of these magazines, consider writing a letter to the editor informing them that the CRC is not a measure that would be beneficial to children in the United States. By placing UN bureaucrats in the decision-making role currently occupied by fit parents, ratification in our country would actually be a nightmare, not a dream. (Don’t attack the entire article; our issue is just with the uninformed endorsement of CRC ratification.)
You can write to these publications here:
Sports Illustrated:
(Quoted:) “E-mail SI at letters@SI.timeinc.com or fax SI at 212-467-2417. Letters should include the writer’s full name, address and home telephone number and may be edited for clarity and space” if selected for inclusion in their “Letters” section, which is not likely to happen in this case.
Parents:
Visit the CRC wish page and select “Tell Us” right after “What’s Your Wish?” Tell them you wish for adoption of the Parental Rights Amendment to protect the role of parents in the lives of their children.
Please be courteous and respectful. Address the issue, don’t attack the writer!
2. If you see other such mentions in other national publications, please let us know.
3. Keep spreading the word! This treaty will not go away on its own. Those driving it in the U.S. know that if they can adopt it without the Senate – through the courts using “Customary International Law” and through the press blindly promoting it as a standard we should follow – they can still get around SR99 and win. Only the Parental Rights Amendment can protect our nation from this treaty by every route.
Sincerely,
Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research |
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