CBS News’ Political Hotsheet has an article about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:
31 GOP Senators Oppose U.N. Children’s Rights Convention
by Brian Montopoli – 36 commentsThirty-one Republican senators are cosponsoring a resolution opposing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to the conservative group ParentalRights.org, which is pushing the resolution.
The resolution, which you can read here, states that the convention “undermines traditional principles” of U.S. law and calls efforts to sign on to the treaty “contrary to principles of self-government and federalism.” It says the convention should not be put before the Senate for a vote.
As Mother Jones reports, the legally-binding U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child was issued in 1989 to establish rights across country lines for citizens under the age of 18. The only members of the U.N. not to have signed on are the U.S. and Somalia, though the latter plans to ratify it this year.
American conservatives have long opposed ratification out of fear that it will impinge on their right to raise their children as they see fit. Among the complaints on the ParentalRights.org website, which is led by homeschooling advocate Michael Farris, is that under the treaty parents “would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings” to their kids.
Continue reading this article at the link above, and note the lengthy and informative comments at the end of the article.