The United States of America is only one of two countries that has not approved and accepted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The other is South Sudan, which has already begun the ratification process.
Among other things, the CRC ensures children under the age of 18 have the right to life, identity and name, education, freedom of expression, equal opportunity, healthcare, psychological recovery, cultural sensitivities for minority/indigenous groups, and access to information [x].
The lack of the CRC in the USA is part of the reason why it is okay to send children to abusive “camps” that attack their identity as LGBTQ+ minorities, enroll them in private schools that intentionally deny students opportunities to learn about science (particularly anatomy and sexuality), and sign away their children’s rights to the state.
It is also why juveniles in the USA can be sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole, a legal implications that particularly affects people of color, especially Black and Latinx children.
The CRC also specifies that children should not be disciplined in a manner that is considered abusive, and the USA therefore does not regulate the “discipline” occurring in homes of at-risk children, even when it qualifies as mental or emotional abuse.
Due to the lack of the CRC, children can be relocated against their will (eg, deportation/trafficking) to potentially dangerous and life-threatening places, can be separated from their parents, or can be kept in isolation.
Basically, the United States, which claims to be a great champion of human rights, has consistently refused to ratify or even introduce the bill to ratify the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Update on this (2016): USA is now the only country not to ratify the CRC. [x]
Over half of public school students are poor enough to qualify for lunch subsidies, and almost half of black children under the age of six are living in poverty. [x]
The US is one of two “developed” country with the lowest standards for child well-being (Romania is the other). [x]
16 million kids live in poverty and 138 thousand kids are homeless (2013-2015). [x]
Homelessness in children has increased by 60% in the past 6 years. [x]
In 2001, 325,000 children were at risk for becoming victims of sexual exploitation in the United States. [x]
Of all sex trafficking victims in the USA: 17% are underage girls and 10% are underage boys. [x]
this is horrifying because I’m a US citizen and I didn’t even know the CRC existed?? I thought the way children are treated under the legal system here was completely normal and standard??? literally until I read this I had no conception of anything different and now I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that in other places it wouldn’t be allowed for my classmates to be beaten by their parents or shipped off to be made straight
It all fits. We refuse to sign the Extradition Treaty for war Criminals as well.
