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Suffer the Children?
:
A Call for United States Ratiªcation of the
United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child
Lainie Rutkow∗
Joshua T. Lozman∗∗
I. Introduction∗∗∗
Protecting the human rights of children is critical to the development and
continuity of nations. Yet, worldwide, the dignity and rights of children are
violated every day.1 The United Nations Children’s Fund’s (“UNICEF”)2
annual report, for 2005, on children’s health and development chronicles the
difªculties children around the world face. Of the 2.2 billion children in the
world, 1.9 billion live in developing countries.3 It is estimated that since
1990 more than 1.5 million children have been killed in armed conºict.4
Many children are born with health difªculties. In two of the world’s most
populous countries, Bangladesh and India, thirty percent of infants are un-
derweight at birth.5 The life expectancy for children born in the developing
world remains as low as forty to forty-ªve years in countries such as Afghani-
stan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia.6 For those children
∗ Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Health Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health; M.P.H., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2005; J.D., New York Uni-
versity School of Law, 2004; B.A., Yale University, 1999.
∗∗ M.P.H., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2005; M.B.A., Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity, 2005; B.A., Dartmouth College, 2001.
∗∗∗ The authors would like to thank Stephen Teret and the staff of the Harvard Human Rights Journal.
1. See, e.g., Editorial, Endangered Children, Balt. Sun, Jan. 1, 2005, at 12A; Lydia Polgreen, Civilians
Bear Brunt of the Continuing Violence in Darfur, N.Y. Times, Jan. 22, 2005, at A3; Press Release, Human
Rights Watch, Côte d’Ivoire: Ex-Child Soldiers Recruited for War (Mar. 31, 2005).
2. UNICEF is the U.N. body charged with “advocat[ing] for the protection of children’s rights, to
help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.” UNICEF,
Mission Statement, http://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_mission.html (last visited Feb. 15, 2006).
3. UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2005: Childhood Under Threat (2004).
4. Id. at 10.
5. Id. at 110–11.
6. Id. at 106.
162 Harvard Human Rights Journal / Vol. 19
who do survive early childhood, one in seven, worldwide, is denied access to

any healthcare and ªfteen million have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.7
In the United States, an estimated 1400 children die each year from abuse
and neglect.8 Over seventeen percent of Americans under the age eighteen,
or 12.9 million children, grow up in poverty.9 The reality of these children’s
lives demonstrates their need for strong protections. Commenting on UNI-
CEF’s “State of the World’s Children 2005” report, U.N. Secretary-General
Koª Annan said, “[o]nly as we move closer to realizing the rights of all chil-
dren will countries move closer to their goals of development and peace.”10
In light of the plight many children face, it is not a surprise that the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”) is the most successful U.N.
human rights treaty with regard to the number of nations that have signed
and ratiªed the treaty.11 In fact, every self-governed nation in the world has
both signed and ratiªed the CRC, with a single exception—the United
States.12 This Article makes the case that the time has arrived for the U.S.
Senate to give advice and consent to ratify this critically important conven-
tion. Part II explains the role that the U.N. plays in protecting human rights
around the world. Part III discusses the CRC and explains its different pro-
visions. Part IV examines the United States’ past treatment of human rights
treaties. Part V explores the United States’ treatment of the CRC to date,
including an analysis of the reasons for the United States’ failure to ratify the
CRC. Part VI responds to arguments against United States’ ratiªcation of
the CRC. Finally, Part VII explains why the time has arrived for the United
States to ratify the CRC.
II. The Role of the United Nations in Protecting Human Rights

The chasm between the United States’ critical role in forming the U.N.
and its current lack of leadership on human rights efforts is both ironic and
unfortunate. World War II redeªned the world’s power structure. The United
States grew into a superpower, in part through its role in defeating Nazi
Germany.13 If “a treaty . . . records the situation, the power equilibrium . . .
7. Id. at 2.
8. Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities: Statistics and Interventions, Fact Sheet (Nat’l Clearinghouse on
Child Abuse and Neglect, D.C.), 2004, http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/fatality.cfm.
9. Press Release, U.S. Census Bureau, Income Stable, Poverty Up, Numbers of Americans With and
Without Health Insurance Rise, Census Bureau Reports (Aug. 26, 2004).
10. UNICEF, supra note 3, at vii.
11. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3 [hereinafter CRC].
12. See Ofªce of the United Nations High Comm’r for Human Rights, Status of
Ratiªcations of the Principal International Human Rights Treaties 10–11 (2004); UNICEF,
Frequently Asked Questions, Convention on the Rights of the Child, http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_
30229.html (last visited Feb. 16, 2005) (Somalia has signed but not ratiªed the CRC. “Somalia is cur-
rently unable to proceed to ratiªcation as it has no recognized government.”); see also Amnesty Int’l,
United States of America: Rights of Children Must be Respected AI Index: AMR 51/058/2003, Apr. 25, 2003.
13. See generally Jack Goldsmith, Statutory Foreign Affairs Preemption, 2000 Sup. Ct. Rev. 175, 194–95
(“Between the beginning of World War I and the end of World War II, the United States emerged as a
world superpower . . . .”).
2006 / U.S. Ratiªcation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child 163
just prior to [the treaty’s] formulation,”14 then the change in power equilib-
rium after the Second World War demanded a new treaty and, further, a new
organization to govern international cooperation. This new equilibrium led
to the dissolution of the League of Nations,15 to which the United States was
not even a member,16 and to the drafting of the Charter of the United Nations
(“U.N. Charter”) on June 26, 1945.
The U.N. Charter clearly reºects the post–World War II change in “power
equilibrium,”17 but it also reºects the horrors from which the world had just
emerged. The preamble to the U.N. Charter conªrms that the United Nations
was created to be more than a peacemaking organization and that its scope was
to surpass that of the League of Nations. Outlined in the preamble are goals
such as reafªrming human rights, establishing conditions under which in-
ternational obligations can be respected, and promoting social progress and
“better standards of life in larger freedom.”18 The early and clear focus on pro-
tecting human rights and dignity, as well as promoting social progress, is
evident both in the preamble to the Charter and in the body of the document.19
Indeed, Article 1 of the U.N. Charter ªrst mentions the right to self-determina-
tion, which is a central part of many other subsequent human rights docu-
ments.20 The United States showed its support for the U.N. Charter by rati-
fying the document a mere thirty-two days after it was opened for signature.
The United Nations took a direct step toward codifying human rights when
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“Universal Declaration”) was
authored in 1948.21 Although the United States signed the Universal Decla-
ration, a declaration, unlike a convention, does not involve any formal means
of implementation; “[r]ather it asks every individual and organ of society to
strive to promote respect for the rights and freedoms enumerated.”22 In
other words, a declaration is not legally binding.23
14. James Burnham, What is the Purpose of the United Nations?, Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci.,
July 1947, at 1.
15. At the end of World War I, the League of Nations was created to implement the treaties of World
War I and “to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security.” League
of Nations Covenant pmbl.
16. Leland M. Goodrich, From League of Nations to United Nations, Int’l Org., Feb. 1947, at 3.
17. See Burnham, supra note 14, at 1. The power structure is evidenced by the nations that were
granted the ªve permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council, which constitute one-third of the Security
Council’s membership. The ªve seats were granted to China, France, Russia [then the Soviet Union of
Socialist Republics], the United Kingdom, and the United States.
18. U.N. Charter pmbl.
19. Id. (“To reafªrm faith in fundamental human rights . . . .”); id. art. 1, § 3 (“To achieve interna-
tional cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian
character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”).
20. See, e.g., International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, art. 1, 999 U.N.T.S.
171, 173 [hereinafter ICCPR]; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dec.
16, 1966, art. 1, 993 U.N.T.S. 3, 5 [hereinafter ICESR].
21. G.A. Res. 217A, U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess., 1st plen. mtg., U.N. Doc. A/810 (Dec. 10, 1948).
22. Margaret E. Galey, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Role of Congress, 31 Pol. Sci. &
Pol. 524, 524 (1998).
23. See, e.g., Amulf S. Gubitz, Note, The U.S. Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 in Conºict
Eleanor Roosevelt, then the United States’ representative to the U.N. Com-
mission on Human Rights, cast the U.S. vote for adoption of the Universal
Declaration, with support from Secretary of State George Marshall. Roose-
velt also negotiated two draft treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (“ICCPR”} and the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (“ICESR”).24 The United States’ role in drafting
the U.N. Charter, as well as the International Bill of Rights (which consists
of the Universal Declaration, the ICCPR, and the ICESR), was signiªcant,
but the United States has been hesitant to ratify many of the subsequent human
rights treaties into law.25
III. The Convention on the Rights of the Child

The CRC is the youngest of the major U.N. human rights documents. It
was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on November 20, 1989, and
entered into force on September 2, 1990.26 The CRC was ratiªed by 100
States Parties within two years of its adoption.27 By 1997, the treaty claimed
over 191 States Parties.28 The United States remains the only self-governed
nation in the world that has not ratiªed the CRC. The CRC contains classic
civil and political, as well as economic, social, and cultural, rights. The CRC
has three components: the preamble, the provision of core rights to children,
and the articles on implementation.
The CRC’s preamble provides a history of the humanitarian documents
that created precedents for human rights conventions and set the stage for
the CRC. The preamble, which was written “in accordance with the princi-
ples proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, [recognizes that] the
inherent dignity and . . . the equal and inalienable rights of all members of
the human family [are] the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world.”29
The CRC’s reference to the U.N. Charter evidences a seeming conºict
wrought throughout the document between the concept of a child as an in-
dividual or maturing adult and the concept of a child as a member of a fam-
With the E.U. Data Protection Laws: How Much Access to Airline Passenger Data Does the United States Need to
Combat Terrorism?, 39 New Eng. L. Rev. 431, 434 (2005) (“While [a] Declaration is not legally binding
on any nation, authorities have suggested that it is evidence of customary international law of human
rights . . . .”).
24. Galey, supra note 22, at 524.
25. See Jeffery Hufªnes, The Role of N.G.O.s in U.S. Ratiªcation of Human Rights Treaties, 3 ILSA J.
Int’l & Comp. L. 641, 641 (1997). The United States has not yet ratiªed the ICESR, the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [hereinafter CEDAW], or the CRC.
Ofªce of the United Nations High Comm’r for Human Rights, supra note 12, at 11.
26. CRC, supra note 11, pmbl.
27. Jaap E. Doek, The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: Some Observations on the Monitoring and
the Social Context of Its Implementation, 14 U. Fla. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 125, 126 (2003).
28. Id.
29. CRC, supra note 11, pmbl.
ily, “the fundamental group of society.”30 The CRC’s preamble states that
“the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society and
brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the charter of the United
Nations.”31 The preamble also cites the Universal Declaration’s proclamation
that “childhood is entitled to special care and assistance.”32 It pays homage
to past documents that support the rights of the child: the Geneva Declara-
tion of the Rights of the Child of 1924, the Declaration of the Rights of the
Child of 1959, the Universal Declaration, the ICCPR, and the ICESR.33
The CRC provides three categories of central rights to children: provisional,
protective, and participatory.34 The provisional category of rights includes
classic civil and political rights such as the “inherent right to life,”35 “the
right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
health,”36 “the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the
child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development,”37 and “the
right of the child to education.”38 Protective rights include the expectations
that “States Parties shall take measures to combat the illicit transfer and non-
return of children abroad” and that “States Parties shall take all appropriate
. . . measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental vio-
lence, injury or abuse.”39 Participatory rights include the rights to “freedom
of expression,”40 “freedom of thought, conscience and religion,”41 and “free-
dom of association.”42 The CRC’s provisions for the participatory rights of
children are the ones that have often sparked resistance among U.S. interest
groups.43 Arguments against these participatory rights have been expressed
vehemently by conservative family rights activists and have contributed to
the failure of the United States to ratify the CRC.44
30. Id. For a discussion of concerns raised by this conºict, see infra Parts V.C.4 & VI.D.
31. Id.
32. Id.
33. See ICCPR, supra note 20; ICESR, supra note 20; Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1959,
G.A. Res. 1386, U.N. GAOR, 14th Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/4354 (Nov. 20, 1959); Universal
Declaration, supra note 21; League of Nations O.J. Spec. Supp. 28, at 66 (1924).
34. Thomas Hammarberg, The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child—And How to Make It Work,
12 Hum. Rts. Q. 97, 100 (1990). Hammarberg deªnes a provisional right as “the right to get one’s basic
needs fulªlled.” A protective right is deªned as “the right to be shielded from harmful acts or practices.”
A participatory right is deªned as “the right to be heard on decisions affecting one’s own life.” Id.
35. CRC, supra note 11, art. 6.
36. Id. art. 24.
37. Id. art. 27.
38. Id. art. 28.
39. Id. arts. 11, 19.
40. Id. art. 13.
41. Id. art. 14.
42. Id. art. 15.
43. See generally Richard G. Wilkins et al., Why the United States Should Not Ratify the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 22 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 411, 412 (2003) (“First, we believe that the CRC’s
newly minted autonomy rights are neither beneªcial to children nor harmonious with traditional notions
of salutary family life . . . . Second, we have concluded that the CRC’s sweeping reconstruction of family
life lies beyond Congress’ reach.”).
44. See, e.g., Patrick F. Fagan, How U.N. Conventions on Women’s and Children’s Rights Undermine Family,
IV. Ratiªcation of Human Rights Treaties by the United States

The CRC was opened for signature, ratiªcation, and accession on January
26, 1990.45 Article 46 of the CRC opens the convention to signature by all
States.46 Articles 47 and 48 open the CRC to ratiªcation and for accession.47
While accession and ratiªcation lead to the same outcome, unlike signature,
they are legally binding. The United Nations requires two steps to ratify the
CRC. First, “[t]he appropriate organ of the country takes a formal decision
to be a Party to the Convention in accordance with the relevant domestic con-
stitutional procedures.”48 Then, “[t]he Government deposits the instrument
of ratiªcation or accession” with the Secretary-General of the U.N.49 The
CRC becomes legally binding in the country thirty days after the instrument of
ratiªcation or accession has been received.
Under the U.S. system for ratifying international treaties, the President signs
the treaty, but only with the advice and consent of the Senate. Although
signature of a treaty is generally understood to demonstrate intent to ratify,50
after signature, ratiªcation is not always imminent. For example, after sign-
ing the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno-
cide (“Genocide Convention”), the United States took nearly forty years to
ratify the Genocide Convention.51
There are currently seven major U.N. human rights conventions: the Con-
vention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (“Convention against Torture”), the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”),
the ICCPR, the Genocide Convention, the ICESR, and the CRC.52 The United
Religion, and Sovereignty, 1407 Heritage Found. Backgrounder 1 (2001); William Saunders, Senior
Fellow and Dir., Ctr. For Human Life and Bioethics, Family Research Council, Address to the World
Congress of Families: The U.N. Threat to the Family: Bad Treaties Make Bad Law (Oct. 26, 2001). For a
discussion of the parental rights arguments raised by family rights activists, see infra Parts V.C.4 & VI.D.
46. Id. art. 46.
47. Id. art. 47; id. art. 48.
48. Id. art. 53.
49. Id.
50. See, e.g., Maria Grahn-Farley, International Child Rights at Home and Abroad, 30 Cap. U. L. Rev.
657, 704 (2002).
51. Ilia B. Levitine, Constitutional Aspects of an International Criminal Court, 9 N.Y. Int’l L. Rev. 27,
36 (1996).
52. CRC, supra note 11; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treat-
ment or Punishment, Dec. 10, 1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 [hereinafter Convention against Torture]; CEDAW,
Dec. 18, 1979, 1249 U.N.T.S. 13; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, Mar. 7, 1966, 660 U.N.T.S. 195; ICCPR, supra note 20; ICESR, supra note 20; Conven-
tion on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Dec. 9, 1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277 [here-
inafter Genocide Convention]. Some literature also includes the International Convention on the Protec-
tion of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families as one of the major U.N.
human rights treaties. See, e.g., Margaret L. Satterthwaite, Crossing Borders, Claiming Rights: Using Human
Rights Law to Empower Women Migrant Workers, 8 Yale Hum. Rts. & Dev. L.J. 1, 45 (2005).
States has ratiªed four of these conventions.53 Although this may be viewed
as a strong record of support for human rights, the United States has at-
tached to each of these ratiªcations a “package of reservations, understand-
ings, and declarations.”54 Many of these reservations are attributed to the
proposed Bricker Amendment of the 1950s.55 At that time, Senator John
Bricker (R-Ohio) led a campaign to amend the Constitution to include the
following provision: “A treaty shall become effective in the United States
only through legislation which would be valid in the absence of the treaty.”56
Although the amendment was defeated, a non-self-executing clause mirror-
ing the Bricker Amendment has been added by the United States to the ratiª-
cation of all human rights treaties.57
Nearly thirty years after the Bricker Amendment was defeated, Senator
Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who was the ranking member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee at the time, insisted that a reservation on national sov-
ereignty, stating that “nothing in the Convention requires or authorizes leg-
islation or other action by the United States of America prohibited by the
Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the United States,”58 be
attached to the Genocide Convention. A compromise was eventually reached
where the language of the proposed reservation was softened to a proviso sent to
all States Parties explaining that “no legislation or action is required that is
prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.”59 Similar provisos were sent to the
States Parties upon the ratiªcation of the ICCPR in 1992 and the ratiªcation
of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
in 1994.60 Additionally, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, the Convention against Torture, and the ICCPR were
all ratiªed as non-self-executing by the United States.61 These reservations
certainly reduce the legal authority of the ratiªcations. Arguably, the reser-
vations also reduce the signiªcance of the ratiªcations.
The major human rights treaties that have not yet been ratiªed by the
United States have faced similar problems.62 Concerns about the U.S. sover-
eignty pervade every human rights convention, including those not yet ratiªed
53. The United States has ratiªed the Convention against Torture, the ICCPR, the International Con-
vention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Genocide Convention. See
Ofªce of the United Nations High Comm’r for Human Rights, supra note 12, at 11; Levitine,
supra note 51, at 36.
54. Louis Henkin, Editorial Comment, U.S. Ratiªcation of Human Rights Conventions: The Ghost of Sena-
tor Bricker, 89 Am. J. Int’l L. 341, 341 (1995).
55. See id. For a discussion of the Bricker Amendment, see infra Part V.C.2.
56. Henkin, supra note 54, at 348.
57. Id. at 346. For a discussion of the non-self-executing clause, see infra Part VI.B.
58. Hufªnes, supra note 25, at 645.
59. Id. This proviso was not included in the ratiªcation of the Genocide Convention.
60. Id.
61. See id.
62. The three major human rights treaties not yet ratiªed by the United States are CRC, supra note 11; CE-
DAW, supra note 52; ICESR, supra note 20. See Ofªce of the United Nations High Comm’r for
Human Rights, supra note 12, at 11.
by the United States, as evidenced by the inclusion of the non-self-executing

clause in each of the U.S.-ratiªed human rights treaties.63 Additionally, the
four main areas of U.S. opposition to the CRC—sovereignty, federalism,
reproductive and family planning rights, and parents’ rights—are all criti-
cisms also leveled against CEDAW and the ICESR.
The Senate has debated whether to ratify CEDAW many times.64 CEDAW
was submitted to the Senate for advice and consent by President Jimmy Carter
in 1980 and again, by President Bill Clinton, in 1994.65 When the United
States signed CEDAW in July of 1980, the Senate had failed to give advice
and consent on any major human rights treaty.66 A State Department report
proposed reservations to CEDAW so that “ratiªcation of [ ] [CEDAW] would
not change domestic law.”67 The reservations were suggested in an attempt
to protect U.S. sovereignty, to prevent an international treaty from affecting
domestic law. If CEDAW is ratiªed by the United States, it will likely be
with a reservation that the treaty is not self-executing, preventing the terms
of CEDAW from automatically becoming part of U.S. law.68
CEDAW has faced opposition in the United States primarily from groups
that oppose abortion69 despite the fact that CEDAW makes no explicit ref-
erence to abortion and the fact that the State Department declared CEDAW
“abortion neutral.”70 This opposition has included a Senate resolution sub-
mitted by Senator Helms stating that “the Convention’s agenda to promote
abortion worldwide invades the laws of countries that hold a religious or moral
belief that abortion is the destruction of innocent human life and that it sub-
jects expectant mothers to physical and emotional trauma.”71 Led by Helms
in the Senate, many leaders and groups opposed to CEDAW also believe that
“[CEDAW] is about denigrating motherhood and undermining the fam-
ily.”72 Despite the opposition to CEDAW, on July 30, 2002, the Senate For-
eign Relations Committee voted twelve to seven in favor of sending CEDAW to
63. See infra note 115; infra Part VI.B. Qingjiang Kong, China’s WTO Accession and the ASEAN-China
Free Trade Area, 7 J. Int’l Econ. L. 839, 859 n.54 (2004) (“A ‘self-executing’ international treaty can be
applied directly without further legislative or other measures to implement it; a non-self-executing
agreement cannot be directly applied, but must be implemented by legislative or other measures.”).
64. See, e.g., 148 Cong. Rec. E312–14 (daily ed. Mar. 11, 2002) (statement of Rep. Lee); 146 Cong.
Rec. S1276–77 (daily ed. Mar. 8, 2000) (statement of Sen. Helms); 145 Cong. Rec. S15115 (daily ed.
Nov. 19, 1999) (statement of Sen. Boxer).
65. See Malvina Halberstam, United States Ratiªcation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, 31 Geo. Wash. J. Int’l L. & Econ. 49, 50 (1997).
66. See id. at 54.
67. Id. at 56.
68. See Julia Ernst, U.S. Ratiªcation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, 3 Mich. J. Gender & L. 299, 315 (1995).
69. See, e.g., CitizenLink: A Web Site of Focus on the Family, Oppose CEDAW!: The U.N. Conven-
tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Aug. 16, 2002, http://www.family.
org/cforum/feature/a0021811.cfm; Traditional Values Coalition, Convention Endangers Rights of Women, May
10, 2002, http://www.traditionalvalues.org/print.php?sid=285.
70. 140 Cong. Rec. D1136, 1139 (daily ed. Sept. 27, 1994) (statement of Jamison S. Borek).
71. 146 Cong. Rec. S3926 (daily ed. May 11, 2000) (statement of Sen. Helms).
72. Id.
the full Senate for ratiªcation. The treaty, however, was not brought up for a
vote before the end of the 107th Congress, and the United States has yet to
ratify CEDAW.
The ICESR has been described as the “most signiªcant statement of aspi-
rations for a regime of minimum welfare guarantees protected by interna-
tional law.”73 It entered into force in 1976 and was signed by President Carter,
and then sent to the Senate for advice and consent. The ICESR includes the
“right to work,”74 “the right of everyone to social security, including social
insurance,”75 and “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for
himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and
to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”76 The reasons for U.S.
opposition to ratiªcation of the ICESR are more fundamental than the rea-
sons for opposition to CEDAW and the CRC in that the opposition to the
ICESR “arise[s] essentially from the absence of clear agreement on values
between the United States and the international community when it comes
to the very concept of economic, social and cultural rights.”77 Although sov-
ereignty issues are one basis for U.S. opposition to the ICESR,78 the resis-
tance to ratiªcation is more focused on the values of community espoused by
the ICESR and on the disagreement about whether these values should be
deªned as rights.79
Although fundamental differences between the United States and the inter-
national community are more readily apparent in the ICESR than in CEDAW
and the CRC, and although opposition to the ratiªcation of the ICESR does
differ from that faced by the CRC and CEDAW, all three conventions face
U.S. opposition due to concerns about international law infringing on do-
mestic law and policy. Despite this opposition, the fact remains that the im-
pact of U.S. ratiªcation on any treaty is real and signiªcant.80
73. Frank E. L. Deale, The Unhappy History of Economic Rights in the United States and Prospects for Their
Creation and Renewal, 43 How. L.J. 281, 314 (2000).
74. ICESR, supra note 20.
75. Id. art. 9.
76. Id. art. 11.
77. Philip Alston, U.S. Ratiªcation of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The Need for
an Entirely New Strategy, 84 Am. J. Int’l L. 365, 367 (1990).
78. See id. at 377.
79. See id. at 372.
80. “[R]atiªcation would make an important global statement regarding the seriousness of our na-
tional commitment to these issues . . . . [R]atiªcation would have a major impact in ensuring both the
appearance and the reality that our national practices fully satisfy or exceed international standards.”
Harold Hongju Koh, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Regarding United
States Ratiªcation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(June 13, 2002).
V. The United States’ Treatment of the Convention on the

Rights of the Child
A. Calls for Ratiªcation
On November 20, 1989, the governments represented at the U.N. Gen-
eral Assembly adopted the CRC and ofªcially made it a part of international
law.81 On January 26, 1990, the CRC was opened for signature, ratiªcation,
and accession, and it entered into force on September 2, 1990.82 Since that
time, several attempts have been made in the U.S. Congress to ratify the
CRC. On January 23, 1990, Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) introduced a resolution in
the Senate that urged the President to submit the CRC to the Senate “for its
advice and consent to ratiªcation.”83 The resolution ultimately had sixty co-
sponsors. It stated that implementation of the CRC would “help establish
universal legal standards for the care and protection of children against ne-
glect, exploitation, and abuse.”84 One week later, Gus Yatron (D-Pa.) intro-
duced an identical resolution in the House.85 The resolution had eighty-nine
co-sponsors. The House and Senate resolutions were adopted.86 However, Presi-
dent George H. W. Bush failed to sign or pursue ratiªcation of the CRC.
In 1992, during the next Congress, Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a
resolution to the House calling for U.S. ratiªcation of the CRC.87 The reso-
lution, which gained eighty-four co-sponsors, explained that, as of May
1992, “117 countries had become state parties to the [CRC] by ratiªcation
or accession, and 29 others had signed the [CRC] indicating their intention
to ratify the Convention in the future . . . . [T]he United States is the only
Western industrialized Nation which has neither signed nor ratiªed the
[CRC] . . . .”88 Two months later, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced an iden-
tical resolution in the Senate.89 The resolution had twenty-three co-sponsors.
Again, the CRC went unsigned.
The following year, during the 103d Congress, Sanders introduced a
House conference resolution that reiterated Congress’s “sense . . . regarding
the need for the President to seek the Senate’s advice and consent to ratiªca-
tion of the [CRC].”90 A month later, Bradley again introduced a resolution
81. CRC, supra note 11.

82. Id.
83. S. Res. 231, 101st Cong. (1990).
84. Id.
85. H.R. Res. 312, 101st Cong. (1990).
86. H.R. Res. 312, 101st Cong., 2d Sess. (1990); 136 Cong. Rec. H7685 (daily ed. Sept. 17, 1990);
Amendment No. 2626, 101st Cong., 2d Sess., 136 Cong. Rec. S12808 (daily ed. Sept. 11, 1990). The
Senate amendment was adopted despite Senator Helms’s failed attempt to attach amendment 2628 to
Bradley’s amendment. Helms’s amendment would have deªned a child differently than the CRC, as “the
unborn offspring of any human being in every state of biological development.” 136 Cong. Rec.
S12806–08 (daily ed. Sept. 11, 1990).
87. H.R. Res. 515, 102d Cong. (1992).
88. Id.
89. S. Res. 352, 102d Cong. (1992).
90. H.R. Con. Res. 15, 103d Cong. (1993).
to the Senate that echoed the sentiment of his 1990 resolution.91 This time
the resolution had ªfty-four co-sponsors. In May 1994, Leahy addressed the
Senate to urge his fellow senators to co-sponsor the resolution. He explained
that
[t]he administration’s resistance [to ratifying the CRC] is due to

misunderstandings about the convention. Opponents claim that it
is antifamily . . . or infringe[s] upon States rights. The [CRC] does
none of these things.
It does create an internationally approved, minimum standard for
protecting children from poverty, abuse, and cruel labor practices.
It calls on nations to afªrm the rights of children not to go hungry,
to be educated, and to live without persecution on the basis of gender,
race, religion or creed. In short, it provides a framework around
which to build a safe, healthy, stable environment for our children’s
development.92
Echoing this opinion, John LaFalce (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution asking

members of the House to call for U.S. ratiªcation of seven treaties, ªve of
which are speciªcally human rights treaties, including the CRC.93 In a sepa-
rate statement, LaFalce entreated, “[t]he United States must now stand and
be counted. We must show ourselves to be truly on the side of peoples seek-
ing freedom, individual liberty, civil rights, and human dignity.”94 Despite
these efforts, the CRC remained untouched by the United States.
However, on February 10, 1995, the White House issued a press release
stating that President Clinton had decided the United States would sign the
CRC. But the statement went on to say that when the President decided to
send the CRC to the Senate for advice and consent to ratiªcation, he would
“ask for a number of reservations and understandings . . . [to] protect the
rights of the various states under the nation’s federal system of government
and maintain the country’s ability to use existing tools of the criminal jus-
tice system in appropriate cases.”95 Madeleine Albright, acting as the U.S.
Delegate to the U.N., signed the CRC on behalf of the United States on
February 16, 1995.
With the President poised to send the CRC to the Senate for advice and
consent to ratiªcation, Senator Helms submitted a resolution, with twenty-
91. S. Res. 70, 103d Cong. (1993).

92. 140 Cong. Rec. S5963 (daily ed. May 18, 1994).
93. H.R. Res. 253, 103d Cong. (1993).
94. 139 Cong. Rec. E2195–96 (daily ed. Sept. 21, 1993).
95. Press Release, The White House, White House Statement on U.S. Decision to Sign U.N. Conven-
tion on Rights of the Child (Feb. 10, 1995) (on ªle with The White House Ofªce of the Press Secretary),
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/archives/whitehouse-papers/1995/Feb/1995-02-10-us-to-sign-un-
convention-on-rights-of-child.text.
six co-sponsors, urging the President not to pursue ratiªcation of the CRC.96
The proposed resolution stated that
(1) [The CRC] is incompatible with the God-given right and re-
sponsibility of parents to raise their children;
(2) [The CRC] has the potential to severely restrict States and
the Federal Government in their efforts to protect children and to
enhance family life;
(3) [T]he United States Constitution is the ultimate guarantor of
rights and privileges to every American, including children.97
No further action was taken on the CRC that year. The most recent call for
ratiªcation of the CRC appeared as part of a bill introduced by Sanders to
the House in 1997.98 The bill died in the House Ways and Means Commit-
tee. In 2006, the CRC has not yet been transmitted to the Senate for ratiªca-
tion, and the current administration has not announced any plans to do so.
B. Ratiªcation of the Optional Protocols

On May 25, 2000, the United Nations adopted two optional protocols to
the CRC.99 The ªrst protocol called on States Parties to curb children’s in-
volvement in armed conºict.100 The second protocol required States Parties
to prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.101
For purposes of signing and ratiªcation, these optional protocols are treated
the same as any other U.N. treaty. In July 2000, President Clinton signed
both protocols,102 and both the U.S. Senate and House adopted resolutions
calling for prompt ratiªcation of these protocols.103 President Clinton transmit-
ted the protocols to the Senate for advice and consent to ratiªcation in late
July 2000,104 and on December 23, 2002, the United States, under the lead-
ership of President George W. Bush, ratiªed both optional protocols.105 Al-
96. S. Res. 133, 104th Cong. (1995).

97. Id.
98. H.R. 3017, 105th Cong. (1997).
99. Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 54/263, Annex II,
U.N. GAOR, 54th Sess., U.N. Doc. A/RES/54/263 (June 26, 2000).
100. This protocol states, inter alia, that “States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that
members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in
hostilities . . . . States Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not
compulsorily recruited into their armed forces.” Id. arts. 1–2, at Annex I.
101. This protocol states, inter alia, that “States Parties shall prohibit the sale of children, child pros-
titution and child pornography . . . .” Id. art. 1, at Annex I.
102. Press Release, The White House, United Nations Protocols on Child Soldiers and the Sale of
Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (July 5, 2000).
103. H. R. Con. Res. 384, 106th Cong., 2d Sess. (2000); 146 Cong. Rec. H5762, 5764 (daily ed.
July 11, 2000).
104. Press Release, The White House, Message from the President to the Senate on Children’s Rights
(July 25, 2000).
105. Press Release, U.S. Dep’t of State, Ratiªcation of Optional Protocols to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (Dec. 23, 2002).
though the passage of these optional protocols is distinct from ratiªcation of

the CRC itself,106 U.S. ratiªcation of the protocols does demonstrate some
recognition of the role of international law in protecting children’s rights.
C. The United States’ Reluctance To Ratify the Convention on the Rights of

the Child
During the ªfteen years since the CRC was opened for signature and ratiªca-
tion, the U.S. critics of the convention have posited a variety of arguments.
Some of these arguments have been raised ofªcially in Congress while others
have been voiced in the legal and other academic literature.107 To understand
why the United States has not yet ratiªed the CRC, it is important to review
the arguments made by those opposed to its ratiªcation. The discussion be-
low addresses the most frequently made anti-ratiªcation arguments.
1. Sovereignty Concerns
Before embarking on a discussion of the CRC opponents’ sovereignty con-
cerns, it is helpful to brieºy consider the history behind contemporary views
of sovereignty. “Sovereign” refers to “a source of ultimate authority, as opposed
to authority that is shared with another institution or subordinated to sys-
temic norms and enforcement mechanisms.”108 In the realm of international
law, sovereignty refers to the independence of nations; “without sovereignty,
a nation-state cannot, by deªnition, be independent.”109
106. United Nations Treaty Collection, Treaty Reference Guide 4 (1999), http://untreaty.un.
org/English/guide.asp#protocols (“An Optional Protocol to a Treaty is an instrument that establishes
additional rights and obligations to a treaty . . . but is of independent character and subject to independ-
ent ratiªcation.”).
107. See, e.g., Amendment 2628, supra note 86; Susan Kilbourne, Opposition to U.S. Ratiªcation of the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 4 Loy. Poverty L.J. 55 (1998); Kristine K. Nogosek,
It Takes a World to Raise a Child: A Legal and Public Policy Analysis of American Asylum Legal Standards and
Their Impact on Unaccompanied Minor Asylees, 24 Hamline L. Rev. 1, 19 (2000) (“One organization has
based its opposition in the ratiªcation of the Convention on the argument that: ‘[t]he U.N. Convention
on the Rights of the Child would make Congress the national guardians of children, charged with seek-
ing “the best interest of the child,” and answerable to the United Nations.’”); John F. Harris, U.S. to Sign
U.N. Pact on Child Rights, Wash. Post, Feb. 11, 1995, at A3 (“Some critics said the [CRC] might allow
children to sue their parents or prohibit states from executing juvenile murderers.”); cf. L. Kathleen
Roberts, Note, The United States and the World: Changing Approaches to Human Rights Diplomacy Under the
Bush Administration, 21 Berkeley J. Int’l L. 631, 649 (2003) (“In May [2002], at the U.N. General
Assembly Special Session on Children, the U.S. delegation statement indicated the U.S. commitment to
‘improve the lives of children’ though it made no reference to children’s human rights. According to
Human Rights Watch, it opposed ‘any reference to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.’”).
108. Brad R. Roth, The Enduring Signiªcance of State Sovereignty, 56 Fla. L. Rev. 1017, 1019 (2004); see
John H. Jackson, Sovereignty-Modern: A New Approach to an Outdated Concept, 97 Am. J. Int’l L. 782, 782
(2003) (“‘Sovereignty’ also plays a role in deªning the status and rights of nation-states and their ofªcials.
Thus, we recognize ‘sovereign immunity’ and the consequential immunity for various purposes of the
ofªcials of a nation-state. Similarly, ‘sovereignty’ implies a right against interference or intervention by
any foreign (or international) power.”).
109. Bob Barr, Protecting National Sovereignty in an Era of International Meddling: An Increasingly Difªcult
Task, 39 Harv. J. on Legis. 299, 301 (2002).
In the ªrst half of the twentieth century, the United States grew to be a
superpower.110 Nations around the world witnessed advances in global commu-
nication and transportation,111 bringing the nations into greater and more
frequent contact. This increased interaction “led to the establishment of stand-
ing organizations that functioned as trade or defense pacts . . . .”112 Unfortu-
nately, global conºicts arose and eventually culminated in World War II. Fol-
lowing the war’s end, several nations determined to form a body that would
preclude future global tragedies. As a result, the United Nations was created
to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war . . . , to reafªrm
faith in fundamental human rights . . . , to establish conditions under which
justice and respect for the obligations arising from . . . international law can
be maintained, and to promote social progress . . . .”113 As nations joined inter-
national organizations, such as the United Nations, they “agreed to subro-
gate their individual sovereignty in a speciªc, limited matter or for a speciªc,
limited time.”114
It is against this backdrop that academicians and politicians have expressed
serious concerns about the ramiªcations for U.S. sovereignty each time the
country ratiªes a treaty.115 Essentially, there are two lines of arguments that
ratiªcation of international treaties threatens U.S. sovereignty. First, detrac-
tors worry that
giving force to transnational rules laid down by non-American de-

cision makers surrenders U.S. sovereignty. The reasoning appears
self-evident: sovereignty as a “ªnal say” is a sine qua non of state-
hood, and it is indivisible. To the extent that a state is subject to
110. Id. at 302.

111. Amy M. Steketee, Note, For-Proªt Education Service Providers in Primary and Secondary Schooling:
The Drive for and Consequences of Global Expansion, 11 Ind. J. Global Legal Stud. 171, 171 (2004)
(“Innovations in technology, transportation, and communication during the twentieth century have
paved the way for greater global connectedness and interdependence.”).
112. Barr, supra note 109, at 302.
113. U.N. Charter pmbl., supra note 18.
114. Barr, supra note 109, at 302. Concerns about the constitutionality of treaties can be traced back
to this period. David Golove, Human Rights Treaties and the U.S. Constitution, 52 DePaul L. Rev. 579,
585 (2002) (“Of course, human rights treaties became a source of sustained constitutional controversy
only after World War II with the birth of the modern human rights era, inaugurated most importantly
by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention, and the two covenants de-
signed to implement the former in binding treaty fashion.”).
115. See, e.g., Michael J. Dennis, Newly Adopted Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 94
Am. J. Int’l Law 789, 796 n.42 (2000) (explaining that CRC was not sent to Senate for advice and
consent because “many senators had expressed strong concerns that the Convention would infringe on
U.S. sovereignty . . . .”); Deborah M. Weissman, The Human Rights Dilemma: Rethinking the Humanitarian
Project, 35 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 259, 311 (2004) (“[C]oncerns that multilateral agreements might
infringe on U.S. sovereignty have resulted in an unwillingness to ratify a number of human rights trea-
ties.”); cf. Rebecca J. Cook, Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, 30 Va. J. Int’l L. 643, 650 (1990) (“Treaties on human rights are likely to jeopardize the
sovereignty of states parties without at the same time offering them a commercial advantage that may
render a compromise of sovereignty worthwhile.”); Michael Ignatieff, America the Mercurial, Legal Aff.,
Mar./Apr. 2005, at 68.
law made elsewhere, it has lost its sovereignty and, perhaps, in

some deep way, its right to call itself a “state.”116
This was one of the central reasons the entrance of the United States into the
North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization, and
the International Criminal Court was criticized.117 Because these agreements
“were effectively permanent and could not be changed without the consent
of the signatories,”118 critics claimed that the United States had forsaken its
sovereign status. Similar concerns have been voiced about U.S. ratiªcation of
the U.N. treaties.119
A second, related argument holds that treaties frequently create decision-
making bodies whose members are “not elected or appointed by Ameri-
cans,”120 yet whose decisions are binding on the United States. When these
bodies create law, it is “at one remove from the terms to which the Senate
agreed [when it ratiªed the treaty].”121 It is due to these concerns that the
United States has failed to ratify several of the major human rights treaties.
2. Federalism Concerns
In federalist systems, federal power is limited “so as to protect state sover-
eignty.”122 The United States has cited concerns about the impact on federal-
ism as a reason to stall ratiªcation of nearly every human rights treaty.123
Federalism-based arguments against ratiªcation of international treaties date
back to the early twentieth century when, in 1916, the United States en-
tered into a treaty with Great Britain to provide greater protection to certain
migratory birds. When, eighteen months after its entrance into this bird
treaty, the United States passed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which “pro-
116. T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Thinking Outside the Sovereignty Box: Transnational Law and the U.S. Con-
stitution, 82 Tex. L. Rev. 1989, 1992–93 (2004).
117. Jenik Radon, Sovereignty: A Political Emotion, Not a Concept, 40 Stan. J. Int’l L. 195, 202–03
(2004); see Bruce Ackerman & David Golove, Is NAFTA Constitutional?, 108 Harv. L. Rev. 799, 803
(1995) (“[In the 1980s] NAFTA became a symbol of new-fangled internationalist entanglements that
threaten to compromise [U.S.] ‘sovereignty.’”); cf. Samuel P. Baumgartner, Is Transnational Litigation
Different?, 25 U. Pa. J. Int’l Econ. L. 1297, 1375–76 (2004) (“Despite conºicting empirical claims
regarding the status of actual state autonomy, the problem arises from a normative concept of sovereignty
that no longer seems practicable in a world in which domestic lawmaking is increasingly constrained by
international regimes, such as the WTO, NAFTA, and various human rights treaties, some of which may
be considered to have constitution-like effects.”).
118. Radon, supra note 117, at 203.
119. Id. at 204.
120. Id.
121. Mark Tushnet, Transnational/Domestic Constitutional Law, 37 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 239, 253 (2003).
122. Erwin Chemerinsky, Empowering States When It Matters: A Different Approach to Preemption, 69
Brook. L. Rev. 1313, 1328 (2004).
123. Judith Resnik, Categorical Federalism: Jurisdiction, Gender, and the Globe, 111 Yale L.J. 619, 665–
66 (2001) (“Although the Bricker Amendment did not become law, some believe it has become fact—
through practices of the Senate that consistently limit the application of international laws by reference
to federalism.”); Peter J. Spiro, The States and International Human Rights, 66 Fordham L. Rev. 567, 575
(1997) (“At the same time that the United States ªnally moved on the ICCPR and one other major hu-
man rights convention, others remain stalled at least in part as a result of federalism concerns.”).
hibited the killing, capturing, or selling [of] any of the migratory birds in-
cluded in the terms of the treaty,”124 the state of Missouri challenged the
treaty and statute as violating the Tenth Amendment. In the Supreme Court’s
majority opinion in Missouri v. Holland, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ex-
plained that the test of validity for a treaty differs from the test of validity
for acts of Congress in that “[i]f a treaty is valid there can be no dispute about
the validity of the [implementing] statute under Article 1, Section 8, as a
necessary and proper means to execute the powers of Government . . . . Acts
of Congress are the supreme law of the land only when made in pursuance of
the Constitution, while treaties are declared to be so when made under the
authority of the United States.”125 Justice Holmes’s opinion went on to state
that “[b]ut for the treaty and the statute there soon might be no birds for
any powers to deal with. We see nothing in the Constitution that compels
the Government to sit by while a food supply is cut off and the protectors of
our forests and crops are destroyed.”126
Today, Missouri v. Holland is generally understood to stand for the princi-
ple that “Congress has power to enact legislation to implement a treaty, even
if it would lack the power to enact the same legislation absent the treaty.”127
However, while Missouri remains good law, academics and commentators are
bitterly divided over whether or not the case was properly decided,128 mainly
because of Missouri’s implication “that a treaty could be used to grant the federal
government authority over the states which otherwise would not have been
constitutionally permitted.”129
By the 1950s, several members of Congress had begun to overtly question
the Missouri Court’s ruling.130 This movement was led by Senator Bricker,131
who proposed a constitutional amendment that would have made a treaty effec-
tive in the United States only through legislation that would be valid in the
124. Missouri v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416, 431 (1920).

125. Id. at 432–33.
126. Id. at 435.
127. Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Executing the Treaty Power, 118 Harv. L. Rev. 1867, 1868 (2005).
128. Compare id. at 1868 (“This Article endeavors to prove that Missouri v. Holland is wrongly de-
cided.”) and Barr, supra note 109, at 319 (“Remarkably, the ruling is still valid law, even though there is
no way to view this holding other than an illegitimate amendment of the Constitution.”) with Golove,
supra note 114, at 586–87 (“[Missouri v. Holland] is strongly supported by both textual and historical
considerations. Although always controversial, the ruling in Missouri is consistent with both the original
understanding of the treaty power and with the dominant understandings throughout most of U.S. his-
tory.”); Peter J. Spiro, supra note 123, at 576 (1997) (“One might go so far as to question whether the
treaty power now encompasses a federal capacity to overcome state laws in spheres of traditional state
authority, at least not on the basis of international human rights treaties. The Supreme Court, of course,
found such a federal power in its 1920 decision in Missouri v. Holland, and one would have no reason to
suppose that the Court would depart from that ruling if it were to reconsider the issue.”).
129. John R. Worth, Note, Globalization and the Myth of Absolute National Sovereignty: Reconsidering the
“Un-Signing” of the Rome Statute and the Legacy of Senator Bricker, 79 Ind. L.J. 245, 253 (2004).
130. See, e.g., Barr, supra note 109, at 320; Golove, supra note 114, at 587.
131. It was later discovered that Bricker and his colleagues “were primarily concerned with the poten-
tial impact that the UN human rights conventions might have on racial segregation in the South.”
Worth, supra note 129, at 254.
absence of the treaty.132 Had the amendment passed, it would have severely
curbed the United States’ ability to adhere to human rights treaties. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower opposed the Bricker Amendment, and it was ultimately
defeated. However, to ensure the amendment’s defeat, Eisenhower “promised
that the United States would not accede to international human rights cove-
nants or conventions.”133
In the case of the CRC, which “deals almost exclusively with areas of law
traditionally thought to be reserved to the states,”134 the federalism concerns
engendered by the Missouri decision and Bricker Amendment controversy are
especially prevalent. The CRC touches on many aspects of family law and
juvenile justice that have customarily been regulated by the states and not
the federal government. In particular, the CRC addresses family separation
and reuniªcation,135 child placement and custody issues,136 and protection of
children from abuse and neglect.137 Critics claim that U.S. ratiªcation of the
CRC “would negatively affect the ability of state courts in the United States
to deal with legal issues touching children.”138
In addition to federalism concerns related to the CRC’s potential impact
on the states’ traditional authority over family law, another basis for U.S.
opposition to the CRC is its provision banning juvenile executions.139 The
CRC states that “[n]either capital punishment nor life imprisonment with-
out possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons
below eighteen years of age.”140 Until recently, the United States permitted
individual states to execute persons convicted of capital crimes committed
when they were under the age of eighteen.141 However, in Roper v. Simmons,
the Supreme Court eliminated the possibility of juvenile executions in the
United States.142 Thus, the Roper decision essentially nulliªed any hesitation
in ratifying the CRC based on its potential impact on individual states’
right to execute juveniles.

133. Id. at 348–49.
134. Susan Kilbourne, Student Research, The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Federalism Issues for
the United States, 5 Geo. J. on Fighting Poverty 327, 327 (1998).
135. CRC, supra note 11, arts. 9, 10.
136. Id. art. 20.
137. Id. arts. 34, 39.
138. John Quigley, U.S. Ratiªcation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 22 St. Louis U. Pub. L.
Rev. 401, 405 (2003).
139. See, e.g., Howard Davidson, A Model Child Protection Legal Reform Instrument: The Convention on the
Rights of the Child and Its Consistency with United States Law, 5 Geo. J. on Fighting Poverty 185, 187
(1998); Michelle Z. Hall, Convention on the Rights of the Child: Has America Closed its Eyes?, 17 N.Y.L. Sch.
J. Hum. Rts. 923, 927 (2001).
140. CRC, supra note 11, art 37(a). For a discussion of the manner in which the United States should
treat the CRC’s prohibition on lifetime imprisonment for individuals convicted of capital crimes while
they were juveniles, see infra note 213.
141. See, e.g., Carrie Martin, Spare the Death Penalty, Spoil the Child: How the Execution of Juveniles Violates
the Eighth Amendment’s Ban on Cruel and Unusual Punishment in 2005, 46 S. Tex. L. Rev. 695 (2005).
142. Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005).
3. Reproductive and Family Planning Concerns

The CRC maintains no explicit position on the issues of contraception,
abortion, or other family planning services. Nevertheless, U.S. critics fear that
because the CRC does not explicitly offer protection to the fetus, its ratiªcation
will endorse abortion and encourage children to have abortions.143
4. Parents’ Rights Concerns

The parents’ rights movement is grounded in several Supreme Court cases
that have afªrmed certain parental rights. In 1923, the Court decided Meyer
v. Nebraska,144 which concerned a Nebraska statute that prohibited the teaching
of foreign languages to any student who had not graduated from the eighth
grade.145 Although the Court struck down the statute, the parent’s rights
movement has found constitutional support for its cause in the Meyer Court’s
discussion of the Fourteenth Amendment as including the right to “estab-
lish a home and bring up children . . . .”146 Two years later, in Pierce v. Society
of Sisters,147 the Court afªrmed the rights of parents by striking down an
Oregon statute that required parents or guardians to send children between
ages eight and sixteen to a public school in the district where the child re-
sided.148 The Court found that the statute “unreasonably interfere[d] with
the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education
of children under their control . . . . The child is not the mere creature of the
state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled
with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”149
Meyer and Pierce, which remain good law, established broad parental rights.150
In 1982, the Court again turned to the Fourteenth Amendment to expand
the scope of parental rights in Santosky v. Kramer.151 This case examined a
New York law that allowed the termination of parental rights when it was
143. See, e.g., David P. Stewart, Ratiªcation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 5 Geo. J. on
Fighting Poverty 161, 167 (1998); Hall, supra note 139, at 926.
144. 262 U.S. 390 (1923).
145. Id. at 397.
146. Id. at 626.
147. 268 U.S. 510 (1925).
148. Id. at 530.
149. Id. at 534–35.
150. The rights established in Meyer and Pierce were tempered by the Court’s decision in Prince v. Mas-
sachusetts in which the Court struck down a Massachusetts law that forbade girls under the age of eight-
een from selling periodicals in public places. 321 U.S. 158, 160–61 (1944). Although the Court recog-
nized “[t]he rights of children to exercise their religion, and of parents to give them religious training
and to encourage them in the practice of religious belief,” the Court found that “the state has a wide
range of power for limiting parental freedom and authority in things affecting the child’s welfare; and
that this includes, to some extent, matters of conscience and religious conviction.” Id. at 165, 167. The
Court summarized its analysis by stating that “[p]arents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But
it does not follow that they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children before
they have reached the age of full and legal discretion when they can make that choice for themselves.” Id.
at 170.
151. 455 U.S. 745 (1982).
found that the child was “permanently neglected.”152 The “fair preponderance
of the evidence” standard was used to make a determination of “permanent
neglect[ ].”153 In Santosky, however, the Court raised the evidentiary standard
stating that “the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment demands
[that] . . . [b]efore a State may sever completely and irrevocably the rights of
parents in their natural child, due process requires that the State support its
allegations by at least clear and convincing evidence.”154 Taken together, Meyer,
Pierce, and Santosky establish a clear line of support for certain parental rights.
Proponents of the parental rights movement have taken issue with the
CRC, raising the twin concerns that the CRC elevates the rights of children
to the detriment of their parents and that it endangers fundamental family
relationships.155 Supporters of the parents’ rights movement believe that the
CRC grants children an unprecedented amount of autonomy. This line of
reasoning ªnds that
[c]hildren are not autonomous. They are, by deªnition, “imma-

ture”—socially, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Hence, so-
cieties keep children from driving automobiles, from shooting
guns, drinking alcohol, smoking, voting, viewing sexually explicit
movies and photographs, and entering into binding contracts. Such
“deprivations” protect children (and others) from the consequences
of their immaturity. Adults impose such limitations not from ar-
rogance or cruelty, but from wisdom.156
Critics of the CRC further emphasize the role that parents play in protecting
children: “[I]t was an accepted reality of life in America that children are too
immature to handle the tremendous responsibility adult ‘freedoms’ carry
with them. Consequently, under the American model, parents determine when
children are mature enough to handle adult responsibilities.”157 As these
concerns suggest, supporters of the parents’ rights movement fear that the
CRC legally grants “autonomous capacity to children [and] ignores the re-
alities of education and child development to the point of abandoning chil-
dren to a mere illusion of real autonomy.”158
A related but slightly different fear about the CRC is that it will threaten
the social cohesion of the family by injecting the state into the traditional fam-
ily structure.159 Opponents of the CRC explain that “the family, as the fun-
152. Id. at 747.

153. Id. at 755.
154. Id. at 747–48.
155. See, e.g., Kevin Mark Smith, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Sacriªce of
American Children on the Altar of Third-World Activism, 38 Washburn L.J. 111 (1998); Wilkins et al.,
supra note 43, at 417.
156. Wilkins et al., supra note 43, at 417.
157. Smith, supra note 155, at 125–26.
159. Hall, supra note 139, at 926 (“[T]he opposition believes that the CRC would undermine parental
authority and threaten the parent-child relationship.”).
damental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and
well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the
necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibili-
ties within the community . . . . Ratifying the CRC would threaten [this].”160
As a result, the family unit would be shattered as children looked outside of
the family to the state, rather than their parents, for guidance and support.161
As a direct result of these concerns, in 1995, days before President Clin-
ton signed the CRC, opponents of the treaty’s ratiªcation introduced bills in
the House and Senate entitled the “Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act
of 1995.”162 The bills, which were identical, were introduced to “protect the
fundamental right of a parent to direct the upbringing of a child . . . .”163
and sought to prohibit federal, state, and local governments from “interfer[ing]
with or usurp[ing]” this “fundamental right.”164 Further, the bills attempted
to elevate the standard used to evaluate all cases of government interference
with parental rights to strict scrutiny. Both bills died in committee and
were never reintroduced.
VI. Refutation of Views Opposing the Convention on the Rights

of the Child
As already explicated, previous attempts by the United States to ratify the
CRC have proved vastly unsuccessful.165 However, current events, recent judi-
cial decisions, and the international political climate all support a renewed
effort to ratify the CRC. Moreover, the current state of children’s health and
development demands that the United States pay closer attention to the in-
herent human rights of each child.
A. Responses to Sovereignty Concerns

Although sovereignty concerns are frequently cited as a reason to avoid
U.S. ratiªcation of human rights treaties,166 the manner in which these sov-
ereignty concerns are framed must be considered. Detractors of the CRC and
other international treaties believe that being subject to international law in-
fringes on U.S. sovereignty. However, the United States can only be bound
by international law through the exercise of its own legislative processes. In
order for the United States to become a party to an international agreement,
“a domestic decision-maker [e.g., the Senate]” must accept the agreement

161. Cf. Smith, supra note 155, at 122 (“It is cardinal with us that the custody, care, and nurture of
the child reside ªrst in the parents, whose primary functions and freedom include preparations for obliga-
tions the state can neither supply nor hinder.”).
162. S. Res. 984, 104th Cong. (1995); H.R. 1946, 104th Cong. (1995).
163. S. Res. 984, 104th Cong. pmbl. (1995).
164. Id. § 4.
165. For a discussion of previous U.S. attempts to ratify the CRC, see supra Part V.A.
166. For a discussion of these concerns, see supra Part V.C.1.
and “conclude[ ] that a non-U.S. rule should be a rule of decision within the
United States.”167 It is entirely possible that a domestic institution will de-
cide that the United States’ interests, both at home and abroad, are best
served by ratifying a treaty or entering a trade agreement. Such a determina-
tion can be viewed “as the result[ ] of an exercise of sovereignty, not as evi-
dence of a lapse of sovereignty.”168 After all,
[A] sovereign nation can decide that its sovereign interests are ad-
vanced . . . by making agreements with other nations that limit
what it can otherwise do. . . . Even more, a sovereign nation can
decide that its sovereign interests are advanced . . . by agreeing
with other nations to delegate interpretive authority over treaties
to some supranational body.169
A sovereign nation’s authority and ultimate success derive, in part, from recog-
nizing when a multilateral or bilateral agreement promotes that nation’s po-
litical, economic, or humanitarian interests. The agreement may limit a nation’s
sovereignty in a speciªc area, but it is a sovereign nation’s prerogative to deter-
mine when such a trade-off is beneªcial.
In addition, several recent Supreme Court decisions demonstrated that cer-
tain justices are willing to consider international law and the laws and prac-
tices of other nations when drafting their opinions.170 For example, in Grutter v.
Bollinger, a case sustaining the University of Michigan Law School’s “narrowly
tailored use of race in admissions decisions,”171 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s
concurring opinion cited the International Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination as an example of how the majority’s “ob-
servation that race-conscious programs ‘must have a logical endpoint’ . . .
accords with the international understanding of the ofªce of afªrmative ac-
tion.”172 A few days later, in Lawrence v. Texas,173 which held that a Texas statute
167. Tushnet, supra note 121, at 262.

168. Aleinikoff, supra note 116, at 1994.
169. Tushnet, supra note 121, at 261.
170. Cf. Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, Keynote Address at
the Proceedings of the Ninety-Seventh Annual Meeting of The American Society of International Law:
The Supreme Court And The New International Law (Apr. 4, 2003) (“Ultimately, I believe that the
‘comparativist’ view that several of us have enunciated will carry the day—simply because of the enor-
mous value in any discipline of trying to learn from the similar experience of others.”); Sandra Day
O’Connor, Keynote Address at the Proceedings of the Ninety-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American
Society of International Law (Mar. 16, 2002) (“Although international law and the law of other nations
are rarely binding upon our decisions in U.S. courts, conclusions reached by other countries and by the
international community should at times constitute persuasive authority in American courts.”).
171. 539 U.S. 306, 342 (2003)
172. Id. at 342 (Ginsburg, J., concurring) (citation omitted); see also Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Looking
Beyond Our Borders: The Value of a Comparative Perspective in Constitutional Adjudication, 40 Idaho L. Rev. 1,
1 (2003) (“National, multinational, and international human rights charters and tribunals today play a
key part in a world with increasingly porous borders. My message in these remarks is simply this: We are
the losers if we do not both share our experience with, and learn from others.”).
173. 539 U.S. 558 (2003).
prohibiting sexual contact between consenting adults of the same sex was
unconstitutional, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, noted that
other nations also recognized the right of homosexual adults to engage in
consensual, intimate contact:
To the extent that Bowers [v. Hardwick] relied on values we share

with a wider civilization, it should be noted that the reasoning and
holding in Bowers have been rejected elsewhere. The European
Court of Human Rights has followed not Bowers but its own deci-
sion in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom . . . . Other nations, too, have
taken action consistent with an afªrmation of the protected right
of homosexual adults to engage in intimate, consensual conduct. The
right the petitioners seek in this case has been accepted as an integral
part of human freedom in many other countries. There has been no
showing that in this country the governmental interest in circum-
scribing personal choice is somehow more legitimate or urgent.174
Even more recently, in Roper v. Simmons,175 Justice Kennedy noted in his ma-
jority opinion, striking down the use of the death penalty on individuals
convicted of capital crimes that they committed when they were juveniles,
that “[i]t is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of inter-
national opinion against the juvenile death penalty . . . .”176 While, of course,
these developments do not alter U.S. sovereignty, they do show a growing
recognition of the interconnectedness of the world’s nations and an acknowl-
edgement that the laws and practices of other nations can inºuence domestic
law.
B. Responses to Federalism Concerns

Arguments that the CRC, if ratiªed by the United States, will upset the
balance between the states and the federal government and violate the Tenth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution can be refuted both by the current state of
the law and contemporary U.S. practice.177 First, federalism objections to the
CRC are essentially negated by Missouri’s holding that the treaty power
gives the U.S. government authority over the states that is otherwise prohib-
ited by the Constitution.178
In addition, the United States has several policies in place to ensure that
ratiªcation of international agreements does not impair federalism. First,
U.S. ratiªcations of international treaties are accompanied by reservations,
174. Id. at 576–77 (citations omitted). Bowers v. Hardwick held that a Georgia sodomy statute did not
violate any fundamental right of homosexual adults. 478 U.S. 186 (1986).
175. Roper, 543 U.S. 551. For a discussion of the Roper opinion, see infra Part VI.B.
176. Id. at 578.
177. U.S. Const. amend. X (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”).
178. For a discussion of Missouri v. Holland, see supra Part V.C.2.
declarations, and understandings (“RUDs”)179 that “severely limit the[ ] appli-

cation [of human rights treaties] in the United States.”180 This package of
RUDs traditionally includes a federalism clause, with the idea that “the United
States could leave implementation [of the treaty] largely to the states.”181
This seeming contravention of the Missouri decision is reinforced by the “the
policy of the United States, when ratifying human rights treaties, that those
treaties [ ] make no signiªcant changes to the American legal system.”182
To further ensure that human rights treaties do not signiªcantly alter its
federal structure, the United States has declared that the human rights trea-
ties it ratiªes are non-self-executing,183 meaning that U.S.-ratiªed treaties
do not automatically have legal force, “but must be implemented by legisla-
tive or other measures.”184 This non-self-execution is designed to deny judges in
the United States the ability to decide cases based upon the international
standards created in human rights treaties.185 Opponents of the non-self-
executing clause believe that the clause undermines the seriousness with
which the United States should approach human rights issues.186
In addition to these general concerns, as already mentioned, one of the
United States’ primary reasons for failing to ratify the CRC is because of the
CRC’s prohibition on juvenile executions.187 Until March 1, 2005, this pro-
vision conºicted with U.S. law because the U.S. Supreme Court held in
Stanford v. Kentucky188 that there was “neither a historical nor a modern socie-
tal consensus forbidding the imposition of capital punishment on any person
who murders at 16 or 17 years of age . . . . [S]uch punishment does not of-
fend the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual pun-
179. Connie de la Vega, Human Rights and Trade: Inconsistent Application of Treaty Law in the United
States, 9 UCLA J. Int’l L. & Foreign Aff. 1, 2 (2004) (stating that “federalism constraints were raised
ªrst to prevent and later severely limit the [United States’] involvement in and application of human
rights treaties through the use of reservations, understandings, and declarations (RUDs)”).
180. Id. at 3.
182. Sanford Fox, To Ratify the Convention, 5 Geo. J. on Fighting Poverty 267, 267 (1998).
184. Kong, supra note 63, at 859 n.54.
186. See id. at 349–50; cf. Robin H. Gise, Note, Rethinking McClesky v. Kemp: How U.S. Ratiªcation
of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Provides a Remedy for
Claims of Racial Disparity in Death Penalty Cases, 22 Fordham Int’l L.J. 2270, 2307 (1999) (“Many
commentators oppose the non-self-executing declaration on legal and policy grounds. First, some scholars
note that non-self-executing declarations are inconsistent with Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which
states that treaties are the supreme law of the land. Second, commentators argue that the non-self-
executing declaration nulliªes the effect of [a treaty] in the United States by preventing U.S. citizens
from [bringing] causes of action under the [treaty].”).
Some opponents of the non-self-executing clause have suggested a compromise similar to the one
reached with Senator Helms during the debate over the Convention against Torture where a bipartisan
compromise reduced the sovereignty reservation to a proviso to be sent to all States Parties that stated
that “no legislation or action is required that is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.” Hufªnes, supra note
25, at 645.
187. See supra Part V.C.2.
188. 492 U.S. 361 (1989), overruled in part by Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551.
ishment.”189 Thirteen years later, however, in Atkins v. Virginia,190 the Court

outlawed capital punishment for the mentally retarded. The Court held that
“in the light of our ‘evolving standards of decency,’ . . . [capital] punishment
is excessive and . . . the Constitution ‘places a substantive restriction on the
State’s power to take the life’ of a mentally retarded offender.”191
In March 2005, in its landmark decision in Roper v. Simmons,192 the Court
sought to resolve the seeming inconsistency between Stanford and Atkins.
Christopher Simmons had planned and committed a capital murder when he
was seventeen years old. After his eighteenth birthday, a Missouri court sen-
tenced him to death for the crime and the state’s Supreme Court afªrmed the
decision in 1997.193 After the Atkins case came down, Simmons ªled a new
petition for post-conviction relief with the state of Missouri.194 After the
Missouri Supreme Court reevaluated Simmons’s case in light of Atkins and
determined that “a national consensus has developed against the execution of
juvenile offenders,”195 the Supreme Court accepted the case on appeal to evalu-
ate the juvenile death penalty under the Eighth Amendment.
The Eighth Amendment, made applicable to the states through the Four-
teenth Amendment,196 prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.”197 In Roper,
the Court explained that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel
and unusual punishment “must be interpreted according to its text, by con-
sidering history, tradition, and precedent, and with due regard for its pur-
pose and function in the constitutional design.”198 To apply this framework,
the Court looks to “‘the evolving standards of decency that mark the pro-
gress of a maturing society . . . .’”199
The Court began its analysis by surveying the states’ contemporary prac-
tices regarding juvenile executions. It found that in the last ten years, only
three states—Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia—executed people for crimes
they committed while juveniles.200 The Court also noted that since its Stan-
ford decision, “no State that previously prohibited capital punishment for
juveniles has reinstated it. This fact, coupled with the trend toward aboli-
tion of the juvenile death penalty, carries special force . . . in light of the
189. Id. at 380. In 1988, in Thompson v. Oklahoma, a plurality of the Court held that capital punish-
ment could not be used against anyone who was less than sixteen years old at the time they committed
the crime in question. 487 U.S. 815 (1988).
190. 536 U.S. 304 (2002). Atkins overturned the Court’s previous decision, Penry v. Lynaugh, which
held that the Eighth Amendment did not require mentally retarded offenders to be exempt from death
sentences. 492 U.S. 302 (1989).
191. Atkins, 536 U.S. at 321.
192. Roper, 543 U.S. at 551.
193. State v. Simmons, 944 S.W.2d 165, 169 (1997) (en banc).
194. Roper, 543 U.S. at 559.
195. State ex rel. Simmons v. Roper, 112 S.W.3d 397, 399 (2003) (en banc).
196. U.S. Const. amend. XIV.
197. U.S. Const. amend. VIII; Roper, supra note 142, at 569.
198. Roper, 543 U.S. at 560.
199. Id. at 561. (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101 (1958)).
200. Id. at 564–65.
particular trend in recent years toward cracking down on juvenile crime in

other respects.”201 The Court recognized this trend as part of a growing na-
tional consensus that “our society views juveniles . . . as ‘categorically less
culpable than the average criminal.’”202
The Court stated that the differences between juveniles and adults are such
“that juvenile offenders cannot with reliability be classiªed among the worst
offenders.”203 First, the Court recognized “the comparative immaturity and
irresponsibility of juveniles” that results in almost every State prohibiting
“those under 18 years of age from voting, serving on juries, or marrying
without parental consent.”204 The Court also found that juveniles are “more
vulnerable or susceptible to negative inºuences and outside pressures, in-
cluding peer pressure.”205 Finally, the Court recognized that “the character
of a juvenile is not as well formed as that of an adult. The personality traits
of juveniles are more transitory, less ªxed.”206 The Court relied on these dif-
ferences between juveniles and adults to hold that “it is less supportable to
conclude that even a heinous crime committed by a juvenile is evidence of
irretrievably depraved character.”207 In light of these observations, the Court
pointed out that the two main justiªcations for the death penalty—retribution
and deterrence—would not be achieved by imposing the death penalty on
juvenile offenders.208
Finally, the Court recognized that the United States is “the only country
in the world that continues to give ofªcial sanction to the juvenile death pen-
alty.”209 The Court explained that while this observation is not controlling,
it “referred to the laws of other countries and to international authorities as
instructive for its interpretation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of
‘cruel and unusual punishments.’”210 In particular, the Court emphasized the
CRC’s provision prohibiting the use of capital punishment against juvenile
offenders.211 The Court went so far as to state that “the United States now
stands alone in a world that has turned its face against the juvenile death
penalty.”212
201. Id. at 566.

202. Id. at 567.
203. Id. at 569.
204. Id.
205. Id.
206. Id. at 570.
207. Id.
208. Id.
209. Id. at 575.
210. Id.; see Anne E. Kornblut, Justice Ginsburg Backs Value of Foreign Law, N.Y. Times, Apr. 2, 2005,
at A10 (“Fears about relying too heavily on world opinion ‘should not lead us to abandon the effort to
learn what we can from the experience and good thinking foreign sources may convey,’ Justice [Ruth
Bader] Ginsburg told members of the American Society of International Law.”).
211. Roper, 543 U.S. at 576. Since 1990, only China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United States have executed juveniles. In recent years each of
these countries has “either abolished capital punishment for juveniles or made public disavowal of the
practice.” Id. at 576–77.
212. Id. at 577.
In light of the Supreme Court’s deªnitive holding in Roper prohibiting

capital punishment for capital crimes committed by juveniles, the CRC’s pro-
hibition on juvenile execution can no longer be cited as a reason for postpon-
ing U.S. ratiªcation of the treaty.213
C. Responses to Reproductive and Family Planning Concerns

The CRC does not take a position on family planning or abortion issues.214
Most observers assume that the CRC’s authors deliberately left the CRC’s
provisions on family planning open to interpretation by each of the ratifying
States Parties.215 Thus, the CRC provisions may be interpreted as recogniz-
ing a fetus as a child in need of protection. Although the CRC deªnes a child as
a “human being below the age of eighteen years,”216 the CRC does not estab-
lish when childhood begins. Although an individual eighteen years or older
is not a “child” under the CRC, the CRC does not set a ºoor at which child-
hood starts. This omission, coupled with the statement in the CRC’s pream-
ble that “[t]he child needs special safeguards and care . . . before as well as
after birth,”217 allows nations who ratify the CRC to interpret Article 6’s
“inherent right to life” clause218 as applying to fetuses.219 Regardless of other
nations’ interpretations, U.S. law does allow the practice of abortion.220 Be-
cause the CRC does not violate any U.S. abortion or family planning law, its
ratiªcation by the United States would not result in any conºict between
U.S. domestic policy and international law.
D. Responses to Parents’ Rights Concerns

A careful parsing of the CRC reveals that objections to it based on paren-
tal rights arguments misconstrue the CRC’s intentions.221 Critics often claim
213. Ideally the United States would follow all aspects of the CRC’s Article 37(a), including the arti-
cle’s prohibition against life imprisonment of juveniles. Currently, the United States continues to sen-
tence some offenders convicted of crimes they committed as juveniles to life imprisonment without the
possibility of release. See, e.g., Malika T. Djafar, Background to Special Personal Statement, Voices: Incar-
cerated Youths, 3 Whittier J. Child & Fam. Advoc. 285, 285 (2004) (“[I]n 2003, a juvenile as young as
fourteen years of age can be sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.”). There is no
indication that the United States plans to end this practice. However, the United States could ratify the
CRC with a reservation stating that it will continue to use life imprisonment without possibility of
release as a sentence for persons who committed certain offenses while juveniles. See infra Appendix.
214. See Stewart, supra note 143, at 178 (“A credible effort was made during the drafting process to
ensure that the Convention is ‘abortion neutral.’”).
215. Philip Alston, The Unborn Child and Abortion Under the Draft Convention on the Rights of the Child,
12 Hum. Rts. Q. 156, 157 (1990).
217. Id. at pmbl.
218. Id. art. 6.
219. For example, certain countries with strict abortion laws, such as Ireland and the Philippines,
have ratiªed the CRC. Hall, supra note 139, at 927.
220. Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113
(1973).
221. Cf. Bruce C. Hafen & Jonathan O. Hafen, Abandoning Children to Their Autonomy: The United Na-
tions Convention on the Rights of the Child, 37 Harv. Int’l L.J. 449, 451 (1996) (“While there is much to
that the CRC’s “participatory” rights grant autonomy rights to children that
are best controlled by parents.222
Yet, early on, the CRC states that the family is the “fundamental group of
society” and that “parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing
and development of the child.”223 Articles 12 and 13 of the CRC focus on
children’s right to freedom of expression.224 However, Article 13 describes
speciªc restrictions to this freedom, including a restriction “[f]or the protec-
tion of . . . morals.”225 The term “morals” is not deªned in the CRC, which
allows each States Party to interpret the term.
Article 14 grants a child the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and
religion.226 These are rights that are similar to those guaranteed by the U.S.
Constitution to every American.227 Part two of Article 14 guarantees to par-
ents the right to raise their children in accordance with the parents’ religious
beliefs, explaining that States Parties “shall respect the right and duties of the
parents . . . to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right
. . . .”228
The past decade has seen a rapid increase in the number of parents who use
electronic devices or services to control the content their children see on televi-
sion and through other mass media forums.229 Although this may appear to
conºict with Article 17 of the CRC, which grants children the right to “ac-
cess information and material from a diversity of national and international
sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual
and moral well-being and physical and mental health,”230 Article 17’s inten-
tion is only to allow a child to access helpful information. For example, the
CRC encourages the media to produce “material of social and cultural bene-
ªt”231 and encourages “the development of appropriate guidelines for the
protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her
praise in the CRC’s approach to child protection, in this article we take the position that the CRC’s vi-
sion of child autonomy is misguided.”); Wilkins et al., supra note 43, at 417 ([“L]egally granting—rather
than actually teaching—autonomous capacity to children ignores the realities of education and child
development to the point of abandoning children to a mere illusion of real autonomy.”).
222. See, e.g., Hafen & Hafen, supra note 221, at 412 (“[W]e believe that the CRC’s newly minted
autonomy rights are neither beneªcial to children nor harmonious with traditional notions of salutary
family life . . . . Second, we have concluded that the CRC’s sweeping reconstruction of family life lies
beyond Congress’ reach.”).
223. CRC, supra note 11, pmbl., art. 18.
224. Id. arts. 12, 13.
225. Id. arts. 2(b), 13.
226. Id. art. 14.
227. U.S. Const. amend. I.
229. See, e.g., Walter S. Mossberg, MSN and AOL Offer Extras for Broadband, But are They Worth It?,
Wall St. J., Apr. 15, 2004, at B1 (“[P]arental controls . . . keep your kids away from nasty things
online. If you are a parent of young children, you probably would gladly pay extra monthly for good
controls . . . .”); Chana R. Schoenberger, Clinton Backs Voluntary Ratings System to Let Parents Regulate
Internet Use, Wall St. J., July 17, 1997, at B9 (“Filtering software will play a major role in the [Clinton]
administration’s plan for protecting children from material their parents ªnd objectionable.”).
231. Id.
well-being.”232 The CRC makes no suggestion on what the “appropriate guide-

lines” should be, leaving this task to the States Parties that ratify the CRC.
These provisions make clear that the intention of Article 17 is not to pro-
vide children with a justiªcation for demanding access to illicit or distaste-
ful media, but rather to aid children in accessing materials that are beneªcial
to their development.
VII. Why Ratify Now?

Over the last several years, the United States has come under intense scru-
tiny from domestic and international media and from international govern-
ments and their citizens for its policies on U.S. military deployment to Iraq.233
These policies were criticized as being unilateral and as being developed
without any heed to the views of the United States’ historical allies.234 Due
to the U.N.’s opposition to the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq, the relationship
between the two bodies deteriorated with U.S. ofªcials deeming the United
Nations an irrelevant organization.235 Although the United States has back-
pedaled on this last point in the past year,236 U.S. ratiªcation of the CRC
now would be a well-timed show of support for the United Nations.
The political capital for supporting many of the provisions of the CRC is
evident in current domestic legislation. For example, U.S. public opinion polls
consistently show a strong desire for improved education and health care sys-
tems.237 Currently, eighteen states have bills in their legislatures to provide
for universal health care coverage.238 The bi-partisan No Child Left Behind
Act was signed into law in January 2002 by President Bush, with the goal
of providing a quality education to the most underserved children.239
The events of the past decade provide further reasons why the time has
come for the United States to proclaim its support for the CRC to the inter-
national community. The 1990s saw large-scale human rights violations due
to intra- and international conºicts in which millions of children lost their
lives. Massive human rights violations against children occurred in Bosnia-
232. Id.
233. See, e.g., John Hall, Growing Hostility to U.S. Worries Many Americans, Richmond Times, Sept.
14, 2003, at A9; Robert Schlesinger, Surveys Suggest Global Opinion of U.S. On Decline, Boston Globe,
June 4, 2003, at A8.
234. See, e.g., Binding the Colossus—America and the World, Economist, Nov. 22, 2003, at 28; Bruce
Nussbaum, The High Price of Bad Diplomacy, Bus. Week, Mar. 24, 2003, at 33.
235. See, e.g., Editorial, A Not-So-Irrelevant U.N., Christian Sci. Monitor, May 21, 2003, at 8;
Anne-Marie Slaughter, Accused of Irrelevance and Deeply Divided Over Iraq, the United Nations Has Never
Mattered More, Wash. Post, Mar. 2, 2003, at B1.
236. See, e.g., Michael J. Jordan, UN Chief Tries to Bridge Gaps with US, Christian Sci. Monitor,
Jan. 24, 2005, at 7; Christopher Marquis, For the Allies of America, the Price of Support is Rising, N.Y.
Times, June 28, 2004, at 1.
237. See, e.g., Press Release, The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 85% See U.S. Ad-
dicted to Oil—50% Say We Can Quit (Feb. 7, 2006) (on ªle with authors).
238. Nat’l Conference of State Legislatures, Universal Health Care: 2005 Legislation, available at
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/universalhealth.htm (last visited Feb. 23, 2006).
239. No Child Left Behind Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 (2003).
Herzegovena,240 Chechnya,241 Rwanda,242 and the Sudan,243 among others, in

the past decade alone. Given these occurrences, the need for passage of the
CRC is as critical as ever. Ratiªcation of the CRC by the world’s only super-
power,244 will give a needed boost to the enforcement of human rights law.
This Article argues that the United States’ ratiªcation of the CRC will, as it
has done with other treaties, give greater credence and international support
to its principles. Ratiªcation will commit the United States and the world
to better protection and promotion of the health, welfare, and security of
children.
VIII. Conclusion
In 1995 the United States signed the CRC, indicating its intent to sup-
port the CRC and pursue its ratiªcation. Ten years later, children, domesti-
cally and around the world, continue to face human rights violations. Until
last year, the United States remained the sole country in the world to con-
done the practice of execution for capital crimes committed by juveniles.245
Even after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roper,246 the United
States continues to stand alone as the only self-governed nation to withhold
ratiªcation of the CRC. The United States should now reconsider action
toward improving children’s human rights. No member of the U.S. Con-
gress has called for ratiªcation of the CRC since 1997. The analysis of legal,
political, and social factors above suggests that a window of opportunity has
arrived for the United States to demonstrate its commitment to human rights
and children’s rights by joining the rest of the world and ratifying the CRC.
To that end, this Article proposes that Congress call on the President to seek
advice and consent of the Senate for ratiªcation of the CRC. Attached to this
Article is a proposed resolution urging the President to seek advice and con-
sent for ratiªcation.247 The time has come for Congress to follow the original
intent behind the U.S. signature on the CRC with ratiªcation, and, in doing
so, make a deªnitive statement about this nation’s commitment to human
rights.
240. See, e.g., Roger Richards, Sarajevo’s Lost Innocents: The Children of Bosnia, Under Fire, Wash. Post,
Mar. 21, 1993, at F1; Chuck Sudetic, Healing Children, Can Bosnia Heal Itself?, N.Y. Times, June 24,
1994, at A1.
241. See, e.g., Nora Boustany, A Glitzy Party with a Somber Theme, Wash. Post, Mar. 1, 2000, at A12;
Fred Weir, Chechen Children Seek Solace Through Art, Christian Sci. Monitor, May 31, 2000, at 8.
242. See, e.g., Wendy Driscoll, Tiny, Ragged Voyagers, Wash. Post, Sept. 1, 1994, at A21.
243. See, e.g., Marc Lacey, Want, Violence and Death Steal Childhood in Sudan, N.Y. Times, Aug. 15,
2004, at 1.18; Somini Sengupta, Death and Sorrow Stalk Sudanese Across Border, N.Y. Times, Aug. 20,
2004, at A.1.
244. Rebecca Trail, Note, The Future of Capital Punishment in the United States: Effects of the International
Trend Towards Abolition of the Death Penalty, 26 Suffolk Transnat’l L. Rev. 105, 125–27 (2002) (de-
scribing U.S. as “world’s superpower”).
245. Roper, 543 U.S. at 577.
246. Id.
247. See infra Appendix.
Appendix
Resolution
Urging the President to submit the Convention on the Rights of the Child
to the Senate for its advice and consent to ratiªcation.
Whereas it has been ten years since the United States signed the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and children both at home and around the world
remain vulnerable and continue to suffer human rights violations every day;i
and
Whereas there are currently over 73,000,000 children under age eighteen
living in the United States and children constitute approximately twenty-
ªve percent of the U.S. population;ii and
Whereas more than 1.5 million children have been killed in armed conºict
worldwide since 1990;iii and
Whereas one in seven children worldwide is denied access to any health care;iv
and
Whereas every year two million children around the world are exploited as
part of the commercial sex industry;v and
Whereas every self-governed country in the world, with the exception of the
United States, has proclaimed its commitment to upholding and enforcing
children’s rights by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child;vi
Resolved, that the United States accepts the general principles of Article 37(a).
The United States submits the Convention on the Rights of the Child for
ratiªcation with reservation for the United States to continue imposing the
penalty of life imprisonment without possibility of release to juveniles for cer-
tain crimes. The United States, therefore, ratiªes the Convention on the Rights
of the Child to the extent that it is able to comply with Article 37(a).
Resolved, that it is the sense of the Senate/House of Representatives that the
President should promptly seek the advice and consent of the Senate to rati-
ªcation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly with the support of the United States on November
20, 1989.
i. See, e.g., Editorial, Endangered Children, Balt. Sun, Jan. 1, 2005, at 12A; Lydia Polgreen, Civilians
Bear Brunt of the Continuing Violence in Darfur, N.Y. Times, Jan. 24, 2005, at A3; Press Release, Human
Rights Watch, Côte d’Ivoire: Ex-Child Soldiers Recruited for War (Mar. 31, 2005).
ii. U.S. Census Bureau, Projected Population of the United States, by Age and Sex: 2000
to 2050 (TABLE 2A) (2004).
iii. UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2005 20 (2004).
iv. Id. at 2.
v. Id. at 153.
vi. Ofªce of the United Nations High Comm’r for Human Rights, Status of Ratiªcations of
the Principal International Human Rights Treaties 11 (2004).

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Suffer the Children?

who do survive early childhood, one in seven, worldwide, is denied access to

II. The Role of the United Nations in Protecting Human Rights

III. The Convention on the Rights of the Child

IV. Ratiªcation of Human Rights Treaties by the United States

by the United States, as evidenced by the inclusion of the non-self-executing

V. The United States’ Treatment of the Convention on the

81. CRC, supra note 11.

[t]he administration’s resistance [to ratifying the CRC] is due to

Echoing this opinion, John LaFalce (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution asking

91. S. Res. 70, 103d Cong. (1993).

B. Ratiªcation of the Optional Protocols

96. S. Res. 133, 104th Cong. (1995).

though the passage of these optional protocols is distinct from ratiªcation of

C. The United States’ Reluctance To Ratify the Convention on the Rights of

giving force to transnational rules laid down by non-American de-

110. Id. at 302.

law made elsewhere, it has lost its sovereignty and, perhaps, in

124. Missouri v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416, 431 (1920).

132. Henkin, supra note 54, at 348.

3. Reproductive and Family Planning Concerns

4. Parents’ Rights Concerns

[c]hildren are not autonomous. They are, by deªnition, “imma-

152. Id. at 747.

VI. Refutation of Views Opposing the Convention on the Rights

A. Responses to Sovereignty Concerns

160. Wilkins et al., supra note 43, at 434.

167. Tushnet, supra note 121, at 262.

To the extent that Bowers [v. Hardwick] relied on values we share

B. Responses to Federalism Concerns

declarations, and understandings (“RUDs”)179 that “severely limit the[ ] appli-

ishment.”189 Thirteen years later, however, in Atkins v. Virginia,190 the Court

particular trend in recent years toward cracking down on juvenile crime in

201. Id. at 566.

In light of the Supreme Court’s deªnitive holding in Roper prohibiting

C. Responses to Reproductive and Family Planning Concerns

D. Responses to Parents’ Rights Concerns

well-being.”232 The CRC makes no suggestion on what the “appropriate guide-

VII. Why Ratify Now?

Herzegovena,240 Chechnya,241 Rwanda,242 and the Sudan,243 among others, in

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