The UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child would override the U.S. Constitution, giving the federal government power over children that supersedes the rights of parents.
The underlying premise of the United States Constitution is that all individuals are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Our Constitution serves to protect those preexisting rights against encroachment by government. So-called human rights treaties proposed by the UN, on the other hand, presuppose that individual rights originate with the treaties themselves, or with the governments of signatory nations. This is a crucial distinction, because what government gives government can take away.
The UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child is a case in point. The Treaty purports to give the child the right to express his own views freely in all matters, to receive information of any kind from whatever source, to choose his own religion, and to enjoy "rest and leisure." Back talk and blasphemy are therefore protected, as are propaganda and pornography, cults and covens, idleness and iniquity -- any interest or activity indulged in by an undisciplined child
. The Treaty would serve to protect these supposed rights of children not against the encroachment of government, but against the encroachment of parents. By denying the right of parents to raise their offspring as they see fit and by encouraging the rebellion of sons and daughters, the Treaty would divide the family into warring factions, effectively destroying the one institution that truly does protect the rights of children.
This UN Treaty stipulates that primary education be "compulsory and available free to all," giving no indication as to whether this provision would either require the subsidization of private and religious schools or prohibit their existence altogether. Prescribing school curriculum with a specificity contrary to our custom, the Treaty calls for inculcating in all children respect for "the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations," for "civilizations different from his or her own," for the "equality of sexes," and for "the natural environment." The glorification of such things will no doubt be accompanied by the stigmatization of religious faith, American culture, heterosexuality, traditional families, and private enterprise.
The Treaty would also require our government to "ensure the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children" and to establish universal standards for protecting young persons against neglect, exploitation, and abuse. Refusing to surrender one's child to the care of a government-approved institution may be presumed to constitute incontrovertible evidence of neglect. Who's to decide? A new international bureaucracy, of course, which will be established to monitor abuse of the bogus rights created by the Treaty. A committee of ten so-called experts will supervise this effort, and you can bet your first-born baby that their view of what's proper for your progeny will not coincide with yours.
