IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1376 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the primary safe-
guard for the well-being and protection of children is the family, and 
that the primary safeguards for the legal rights of children in the 
United States are the Constitutions of the United States and the several 
States, and that, because the use of international treaties to govern 
policy in the United States on families and children is contrary to 
principles of self-government and federalism, and that, because the 
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child undermines tradi-
tional principles of law in the United States regarding parents and 
children, the President should not transmit the Convention to the Senate 
for its advice and consent. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2010 
Mr. HOEKSTRA submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the primary safeguard for the well-being and protection 
of children is the family, and that the primary safeguards 
for the legal rights of children in the United States 
are the Constitutions of the United States and the sev-
eral States, and that, because the use of international 
treaties to govern policy in the United States on families 
and children is contrary to principles of self-government 
and federalism, and that, because the United Nations 
Convention on the Rights of the Child undermines tradi-
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tional principles of law in the United States regarding 
parents and children, the President should not transmit 
the Convention to the Senate for its advice and consent. 
Whereas the House of Representatives affirms the commit-
ment of the people and the Government of the United 
States to the well-being, protection, and advancement of 
children, and the protection of the inalienable rights of 
all persons of all ages; 
Whereas the Constitution and laws of the United States and 
those of the several States are the best guarantees 
against mistreatment of children in this Nation; 
Whereas the Constitution, laws, and traditions of the United 
States affirm the rights of parents to raise their children 
and to impart their values and religious beliefs; 
Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the 
Child, adopted at New York November 20, 1989, and en-
tered into force September 2, 1990, if ratified, would be-
come a part of the supreme law of the land, taking prece-
dence over all State laws and constitutions; 
Whereas the United States, and not the several States, would 
be held responsible for compliance with this Convention 
if ratified, and as a consequence, the United States would 
create an incredible expansion of subject matter jurisdic-
tion over all matters concerning children, seriously under-
mining the constitutional balance between the Federal 
Government and the governments of the several States; 
Whereas Professor Geraldine Van Bueren, the author of the 
principal textbook on the international rights of the child, 
and a participant in the drafting of the Convention, has 
described the ‘‘best interest of the child standard’’ in the 
treaty as ‘‘provid[ing] decision and policy makers with 
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the authority to substitute their own decisions for either 
the child’s or the parents’’; 
Whereas the Scottish Government has issued a pamphlet to 
children of that country explaining their rights under the 
Convention, which declares that children have the right 
to decide their own religion and that parents can only 
provide advice; 
Whereas the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the 
Child has repeatedly interpreted the Convention to ban 
common disciplinary measures utilized by parents; 
Whereas the Government of the United Kingdom was found 
to be in violation of the Convention by the United Na-
tions Committee on the Rights of the Child for allowing 
parents to exercise a right to opt their children out of sex 
education courses in the public schools without a prior 
government review of the wishes of the child; 
Whereas the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the 
Child has held that the Governments of Indonesia and 
Egypt were out of compliance with the Convention be-
cause military expenditures were given inappropriate pri-
ority over children’s programs; 
Whereas these and many other interpretations of the Conven-
tion by those charged with its implementation and by 
other authoritative supporters demonstrates that the pro-
visions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights 
of the Child are utterly contrary to the principles of law 
in the United States and the inherent principles of free-
dom; 
Whereas the decisions and interpretations of the United Na-
tions Committee on the Rights of the Child would be con-
sidered by the Committee to be binding and authoritative 
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upon the United States should the United States Govern-
ment ratify the Convention, such that the Convention 
poses a threat to the sovereign rights of the United 
States and the several States to make final determina-
tions regarding domestic law; and 
Whereas the proposition that the United States should be 
governed by international legal standards in its domestic 
policy is tantamount to proclaiming that the Congress of 
the United States and the legislatures of the several 
States are incompetent to draft domestic laws that are 
necessary for the proper protection of children, an asser-
tion that is not only an affront to self-government but an 
inappropriate attack on the capability of legislators in the 
United States: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the United Nations Convention on the 
Rights of the Child, adopted at New York November 
20, 1989, and entered into force September 2, 1990, 
is incompatible with the Constitution, the laws, and 
the traditions of the United States; 
(2) the Convention would undermine proper 
presumptions of freedom and independence for fami-
lies in the United States, supplanting those prin-
ciples with a presumption in favor of governmental 
intervention without the necessity for proving harm 
or wrong-doing; 
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(3) the Convention would interfere with the 
principles of sovereignty, independence, and self-gov-
ernment in the United States that preclude the ne-
cessity or propriety of adopting international law to 
govern domestic matters; and 
(4) the President should not transmit the Con-
vention to the Senate for its advice and consent. 
Æ 
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