The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Children Can Wait No Longer for Their Rights

Twenty years ago, a commentary in Social Work called for the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted two years earlier by the United Nations (UN). Hermann (1991) asserted that children, as "the poorest of the poor, the most vulnerable to social oppression, and the least powerful of any population in any nation" (p. 102), are entitled to economic, social, and physical well-being. Brieland, Falon, and Korr (1994) renewed a call for ratification in Social Work when President Bill Clinton was elected to office. President Clinton signed the CRC in 1995 but failed to secure Senate support. Despite periodic calls for ratification, the United States has failed to join the treaty, thus leaving it and Somaha as the only UN member states that have not ratified the CRC. President Barack Obama's election and the change in Senate leadership to the Democratic Party present an opportunity for the United States to fully join the international human rights community. Ratifying the CRC would signal support for key human rights both domestically and internationally. Social workers should renew efforts to promote ratification of the CRC, joining a growing coalition pressing for the realization of children's rights. Such efforts are consistent with the NASW (2008b) policy statement on "International Policy and Human Rights," which expressed support for "the adoption of human rights as a foundation principle upon which all of social work theory and applied knowledge rests" (p. 212) and advocated for U.S. ratification of all the major human rights treaties. The profession stands to play a pivotal role in fostering human rights norms and practices within the United States. The CRC details the minimum standards for children's rights. It is intended to protect all those under the age of 18 and underscores that children's rights are to be based on principles of nondiscrimination and respect for the dignity and worth of each child, regardless of individual characteristics. Articles of the CRC document the legal rights to basic health care, primary education, family life, and protection from harm as well as key civil and political rights. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ARE A DOMESTIC CONCERN Although threats to children in the United States are not as numerous as those facing children in some other nations, violations of children's rights remain common (Todres, 2011).Though the United States has made significant progress in terms of children's rights in many arenas of policy and practice, persistent structural inequalities along the lines of race, class, and gender contribute to unequal childhood experiences. In 2008, 19 percent of children lived below the federal poverty line, one of the worst records on child poverty among industrialized nations (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2009). Evidence of long-term structural effects of racism is found in the differing poverty rates among white, non-Hispanic children (8.4 percent) and African American (24.7 percent) and Hispanic children (23.2 percent) in the United States (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, n.d.). A recent study by Rank and Hirschl (2009) showed that half of U.S., children use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits by the time they are 20 years old, and among African American children that figure rises to 90 percent. Racial disparities are also apparent in the disproportionate experiences of children of color in terms of hunger, housing insecurity, and overrepresentation within the foster care and juvenile justice systems (Danziger & Danziger, 2008). Other indicators of child well-being are equally troubling. The United States currently ranks 37th in the world in infant mortality (World Health Organization, 2009). One-third of U.S. children were reported to have been a victim of maltreatment by the time they reached 18 (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, & Hamby, 2009). Habash (2008) stated that the United States is the only country in the global north in which current students are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were; the U. …