Contrary to What You May Have Heard,       There is No Imminent Threat Looming Due to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

By: Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson

3/1/2020

It has come to NHELD’s attention that, once again, there is a well known “homeschool” organization that has issued a “warning” of sorts that, because of a new proposal, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child “Threatens U.S. Protection for Children”.

Don’t believe the hype, keep your emotions under control, and check out what, in reality, is happening. 

Here are the facts:

Contrary to what the “warning” distributed by that other organization says, there is no “Bill” that has been introduced about the treaty. 

That organization is simply wrong about that.  

There is no “Bill” that has been introduced.

There is only a “Resolution” that has been introduced.

A Resolution is very different from a Bill.  

A Bill becomes a law, and everyone is compelled to abide by that law.

A Resolution is only a statement about how one of the chambers of Congress “feels” about a topic. 

That organization did not tell you about that.  

In this instance, we are talking about a Resolution that only one member of the House of Representatives has introduced.

On February 12, 2020, Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced in the House that Resolution.

It is called H.Res. 854.  

It is entitled, “Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should become a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child”.  

The title of the Resolution should give you a clue about its purpose and weight, in and of itself.

You can find the text of the Resolution here:  

<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/854/text>

In addition, this type of Resolution affects only the House of Representatives.  It does not affect the Senate. It is not voted on by the Senate, and it does not have the full force of law.  

It simply is a “sense” or “opinion” of the House, if the House votes on it and adopts it.  

It is nothing more than that. 

In addition, this Resolution, simply has been introduced.  It has no other co-sponsors.  It is sitting in a House Committee waiting for action.  It could wait there for the entire session and die there.  Right now, it has no other official support.  It simply was introduced.  We do know that there is no indication, at all, that there is any groundswell of support for it. If there were, others would be co-sponsoring it.

Even if there were a groundswell of support, and even if the committee voted it out to the floor of the House, and even if the full House adopted it, that’s where it would sit.  At that point, the House would be saying, essentially, “Yes, we all agree, that U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child is a good thing and the United States should sign on and abide by it.”  

That’s all that would happen in the House.  It would have absolutely no effect in law.

That’s because there is a Constitutional provision that says that all treaties must be “ratified”, that is, voted on and approved, by the Senate.  The House of Representatives has no vote, whatsoever, on treaties. 

Don’t be duped into thinking this Resolution is some sort of imminent threat to your parental rights right now.  It is not.  The Resolution, at the moment, is a political ploy by one member of Congress.  That’s it.

As for the U.N. Convention on the rights of the child, itself, yes, that is not a good treaty.  It would affect parental rights.  NHELD wrote about this topic years ago, presented the facts about it, and would become active in opposing it, were it to become necessary. 

See that article here:  <http://nheld.com/StopTheTreaty.htm>

You must keep in mind, however, that the treaty has been around for years.  The Senate has never adopted it. We hope it never does.

Even if the Senate were to take the treaty seriously and consider it for a vote, it must be ratified by a full two-thirds of the 100 Senators in order to be adopted.  

Is that possible, at some point, yes.  Is it about to happen now?  Absolutely not. Again, at this point, only a simple Resolution, promoted politically by a single member of the House, has been proposed.

It is, however, one of many, many reasons why elections are important.  

Be ever watchful that your freedom is not taken away, but, get the facts first about whether your rights actually are being threatened.  Then, you can act accordingly, if, and when, necessary.

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Attorney Stevenson is the founder of National Home Education Legal Defense, LLC. (NHELD)

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