Child rights treaty will expand government, hurt children

Published at Canada Free Press

The Obama administration is renewing efforts to sign a United Nations treaty supposedly aimed at protecting children’s rights. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN announced on Monday that the administration is investigating “when and how it might be possible to join” the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

While a treaty codifying children’s rights may sound harmless, the true nature of this treaty is devastating to our family structure, Constitution, national sovereignty and security. New rights granted the child would include the right to “thought, conscience and religion.”

Do our children not already enjoy these rights? Our nation is already party to the treaty’s two optional protocols: one preventing Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, the other preventing Children in Armed Conflict.

Why either of the two are “optional” is disturbing.

Our country and our children stand to gain nothing from the passage of this treaty. In fact, the CRC would provide a far more damaging environment for children. So why are politicians like Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) – who pushed for a 60-day timeline for ratification – so anxious to sign?

In many ways, the CRC is a match made in Heaven for today’s Democrat agenda. Upon ratification, Congress would have the power to enact any legislation in order to comply with the treaty. The result would be what the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) calls “the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.” National children’s health insurance and other social programs would be created in order to comply with the CRC. The U.S. would have to curtail defense spending in order to keep in proportion with these social expenses. To a western European country whose defense our military has subsidized for decades, this would have no major impact. But the effect would be devastating to both our economy and our security.

Excerpt: Read more at CFP