PAST ARTICLES AND EDITORIAL BOARDS

IGNORING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF CHILDREN: A PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICA'S
FAILURE TO RATIFY THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE
CHILD
Paula Donnolo and Kim K. Azzarelli
5 J.L. & Pol'y 203 (1996)
The United States is only one of six countries that has yet to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). One hundred eighty-seven countries have become parties to the convention. The CRC is a treaty which specifically addresses children's human rights. These rights include protection from abduction; economic or sexual exploitation; torture; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and discrimination based on race, gender, color, disability or nationality. Additionally, the CRC recognizes a child's right to privacy, health care and education.

This essay examines the reasons why the United States has only become a signatory to the CRC but, has not yet ratified it, given America's reputation as a proponent of human rights. The authors argue that the Unites States had traditionally been unsupportive of human rights treaties by encumbering treaties with reservations and declarations. These declarations typically state that the provisions of the treaty are non-self-executing which means that the treaty is not legally enforceable in domestic courts until legislation is enacted. The authors suggest that nationalistic superiority and national and personal sovereignty are popular arguments of U.S. opponents.

The authors suggest that this disinclination to support human rights treaties and the inconsistent position of the U.S. will ultimately negatively impact America in the international arena. Additionally, the lack of U.S. support for human rights treaties may, potentially, have a detrimental effect on the international human rights movement. This essay concludes that the U.S. as a recognized world leader in the advocacy of human rights must re-examine its policies on human rights treaties and join the other 187 countries of the world and ratify the CRC.