United Nations Treaty Threatens Families, Senate Vote Imminent

Purcellville, VA—Yesterday afternoon, parental rights advocates cried foul as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate will vote this weeks, possibly as early as Wednesday to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) treaty.

CRPD calls for numerous protections for people with disabilities. While many of these protections are already provided for in the U.S. by the Americans with Disabilities Act, additional provisions included in the treaty concern many U.S. citizens. If ratified, the CRPD would become the supreme law of the land under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause in Article VI, would trump state laws, and would be used as binding precedent by state and federal judges.

HSLDA Chairman Mike Farris has been rallying opposition to the treaty by reminding voters that “Americans should make the law for America.” He argues that the CRPD would transform the parent-child relationship by establishing a new legal standard found in Article 7 of the treaty: “In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”

“Parental rights will be eviscerated by the mandatory application of the ‘best interest of the child’ standard,” Farris said. “If parents think that private education is best for their child, the CRPD gives the government the authority to override that judgment and keep the child in the government-approved program that officials think is best.”

The CRPD was signed by President Obama in July of 2009, but it has not received the necessary two-thirds approval from the United States Senate for ratification. Recently, however, the president has placed additional pressure on the Senate to ratify the treaty.

“The question is, who should make critical decisions regarding the care and raising of children who have disabilities? Their parents or United Nations social workers?” President of HSLDA J. Michael Smith said. “There is no need for the CRPD, as our nation’s state and federal laws already protect our precious loved ones with disabilities. It is outrageous that U.S. senators would support a treaty that surrenders U.S. sovereignty and family integrity to unelected UN bureaucrats.”

Home School Legal Defense Association is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms.  Visit us online at www.HSLDA.org.