The US & the UNCRC

I thought I would share a recent letter I wrote for my Social Work in a Global Context Course. The idea of the assignment was to write a position paper, but I chose to write a letter to Senator Feingold (D-WI) about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the US's continued non-ratification of this world-wide accepted document. So, to give you an idea of what I've been doing and some of the research I've been focusing on - also, it's great to create awareness of the UNCRC and what our country is doing (not doing) in relation to it.

19 March 2008
Senator Russ Feingold
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4904

Dear Senator Feingold,

Throughout the United States and around the world, millions of children are the victims of injustice as the result of mistreatment, neglect, or a denial of basic human rights on a daily basis. Millions of children’s voices are silenced each day by their governments, social institutions, criminal justice systems, and familial and cultural expectations. The silencing is pervasive, oppressive, and systemic.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is historically the world’s most ratified and comprehensive international agreement regarding children’s rights. Granting children throughout the world rights that lie under four basic principles—the right to survival; the right to develop to the fullest potential; the right to protection from abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and the right to participate in family, cultural, and social life—the UNCRC is a document that both protects and enhances the lives of children and their families (Child Rights Campaign, 2007). Since it seems that rights of children should be a strong principle of every government, it is puzzling why the United States remains one of only two countries in the entire world that have not ratified the UNCRC (the other country being Somalia, which does not have an internationally recognized government). Perhaps through looking at the US’s non-ratification of the UNCRC through a global context, it will help to paint a clear picture of the injustices that continue in our own country.

Issues of mistreatment, silencing, and oppression do not just happen in far-off lands, where we are not constantly reminded visually day-in and day-out of their existence, but rather, children are being denied their rights in our own backyards. “The Children’s Defense Fund (2002) reports that ‘every day in America’ 9 children and youth under 20 are homicide victims; 180 children are arrested for violent crimes; 401 babies are born to mothers who had late or no prenatal care; 1,310 babies are born without health insurance; 2,019 babies are born into poverty; 2,816 high school students drop out; 4,248 children are arrested; 7,833 children are reported abused or neglected; 2,555 public school children are corporally punished; 17,297 public school students are suspended. Every day this occurs. Every day. Is this a condition that you find acceptable?” (Homan, 2004, p. 6).

In my research, I discovered four main projected concerns for the US in choosing to ratify the UNCRC—that it will undermine parental rights; that states will be required to change their death penalty and juvenile justice laws; that the US will be required to provide economic, social, and cultural rights to children in addition to political and civil rights; and that state jurisdiction will be lessened (Children's Rights, 2005). In addition, Human Rights Watch found in an extensive study three areas in which the US “[falls] measurably short of standards included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child—conditions for children in the justice system, detention of children by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the use of children as soldiers” (Human Rights Watch, 2006).

In the area of children within the justice system, statistics are extremely disturbing. The UNCRC forbids “life imprisonment without possibility of release” for “offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age” (UNICEF, 2006). However, according to Human Rights Watch, laws in forty-two states require that a child who has committed a serious crime under the age of eighteen—in some states children as young as ten—be tried in adult court. Across the US, there are over 2,225 people that have been sentenced to spend life without parole in prison for crimes they committed as children. Of these, 59% received this life sentence for their first-ever conviction of any crime. In addition, racial disparities are clear—nationwide, black youth are sentenced to life in prison at a rate that is ten times greater than white youth. Looking at this crisis from a global perspective, it is clear that the US continues to deny children their basic rights that would be granted with ratification of the UNCRC. For instance, at least 132 countries around the world reject the possibility of life without parole for child offenders. Additionally, of 154 countries from which Human Rights Watch received data, only three countries currently had people serving life without parole for crimes they committed as children (Human Rights Watch, 2006). Globally, the United States is far behind other countries in recognizing the capacities, dignities, and deserved rights of children.

Senator Feingold, I want to ask you to create a dialogue within the Senate regarding the UNCRC and its positive implications for youth in the US. With ratification of the treaty, the US could truly serve as a global leader in recognizing children’s rights, in both words and action. Senator Feingold, I ask you to ponder deeply about the implications for our nation’s children in their denial of social, economic, and cultural rights. Senator Feingold, I ask you to think about the current state of the world’s children and the US’s potential to improve the lives of children both domestically and globally. Most of all, Senator Feingold, I ask you to be ready to ratify the UNCRC when the time comes and to develop a community within the Senate that truly promotes the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth and development of children in the US and throughout the world.

Thank you for your time in considering the future state of children and youth.

Sincerely,



Lynn M. Debilzen