Part 20: International Hindsight

You might now object that these predictions are all theoretical. None of this could happen in America. Hopefully, the past few years of governmental intrusions into our lives have awoken you to the reality we now face that was previously inconceivable. If not, there is still hope for convincing you. In understanding the potential effects of this threat in our country, we have the benefit of hindsight by looking at other countries that did ratify the CRC.

We can look at resulting laws in other countries and the recommendations by the UN Committee formed by this treaty. This committee evaluates countries on a rotating basis, providing feedback on their compliance with the treaty. I earlier mentioned Japan where child privacy is so strongly protected; parents are restricted from their children's e-mail, texting, and chat rooms. In Sweden, time outs and spanking are not allowed and homeschooled children can be removed from parents. In the Netherlands, their idea of sex education begins at age 4. The committee told Belize that they needed to set up formal avenues for children to protect their parent' violations of these rights. In a almost laughable recommendation, the committee told Maldova, one of the world's poorest countries, to set up avenues for their children to be educated about their rights... while they are starving? The following final example was thankfully avoided. A governmental report, called the Badman Report was calling for stricter restrictions on homeschooling in Britain. They wanted the right to have social workers interview children in these homes without parents present. Yes, I said WITHOUT parents present.

Do we want this treaty to change American families for generations to come? If we are not careful, we may one day

become like France where school lunches are dictated by the government and parents are even told what to serve for dinner at home (Time article Feb 23, 2010)