The Marriage Library

The Implications of United States Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Introduction

The purpose of this submission is to provide evaluative analysis of the potential implications of ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC or Convention) and to inform the public of perspectives regarding ratification. The CRC is a United Nations treaty seeking to promote children’s rights such as access to welfare, claim to a good education, and entitlement to freedom of religion.  Despite these laudable goals, there is substantial controversy regarding adoption of the treaty in the United States.  The current political climate brings this issue to the forefront as the Obama administration is researching when and how it will be possible to ratify the CRC with the concern that the United States may be falling behind as a leader in human rights without its ratification.  However, it appears that ratification of the CRC would impede United States sovereignty and fail to accomplish its intended purpose to increase human rights on a worldwide scale.

The current thesis presents an evaluative analysis of these potential implications of U.S. ratification of the CRC through providing the following: (1) a comparison of the United States’ existing law with legislation that would be required under the Convention, (2) an examination of the underlying assumptions and possible interpretations of the Convention through studying the changes its ratification has brought about in other countries, (3) an exploration of the potential risk to national sovereignty that would result from ratification of a treaty overseen by a body outside of the United States government. A thorough review of the potential implications provided through this evaluative analysis will contribute to a more informed position regarding ratification of the CRC than has been available to this point. (more…)