Another UN treaty that would put the U.S. in the cross-hairs of unelected international bureaucrats was passed out of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. Supporters of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) hope that the Senate vote to ratify this treaty will take place by the end of this coming week (by August 3).
As with virtually all UN treaties that emanate from the Economic and Social Division of the United Nations system, a country gives up a lot and gets nothing in return. Although the name of this treaty would make you believe it is worthy of U.S. ratification, the devil is in the details.
United Families International was at the UN in New York during final negotiations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (December 2006) and we can testify that this treaty has all the problems and ideological baggage of the numerous other treaties that have been created by the UN and then never ratified by the U.S.
Here’s a brief list of the reasons why the United States should not ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
- The U.S. does not need to compromise their sovereignty to supposedly stand in solidarity with other nations on the issue of fair treatment for persons with disabilities.
- The U.S. has already enacted some of the strongest disability legislation in the world.
- The U.S. doesn’t need to sign onto this treat in order to provide leadership on this issue.
- This treaty compromises parents’ right to direct the education of their disabled children. The language of “best interests of the child” is the language of those who would like to wrest control from parents. Does the parent or the government know what is best for a child? This document puts the power in the hands of government.
- This document contains language that can be easily misconstrued and misinterpreted to support reproductive health rights (code words for abortion). As was mentioned earlier, UFI was there advocating for the family during the final negotiations of this convention and the reproductive language was highly controversial and hotly contested.
- A UN compliance committee (unelected international bureaucrats) is given the authority to monitor and issue edicts as to whether or not a signatory country is complying with the mandates of this convention. Sovereignty would be compromised.
The U.S. is already a leader in its treatment and policies related to people with disabilities. The ratification of this treaty does nothing to further the interests of the good people who struggle with disabilities. Senators James Inhofe and Jim DeMint explain it best:
The globalist ideologues behind these treaties are either ignorant of or hostile to the universal human experience that problems are best solved by the people and institutions closest to them. So assured are these masters of their mandate to direct the lives and wealth of other people that they see their routine failures to do so efficiently at the local, state and national level merely as reason to ascend to new heights of international command and control.
Contact your senators today and let them know that you don’t support another meaningless UN treaty. Tell the UN bureaucrats “NO.”