Bill Text: GA SR601 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: U.S. Senate; urge members to oppose ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-14 - Senate Read and Referred [SR601 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2011-SR601-Introduced.html

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11 LC 28 5696

Senate Resolution 601

By: Senator Mullis of the 53rd

A RESOLUTION

Urging the members of the United States Senate to oppose ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, the right of the parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Georgia; and

WHEREAS, our nation has long pursued the path of relying first and foremost on parents to meet the real and necessary needs of children; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) has held that "[t]his primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition"; and

WHEREAS, children are best served by the continued practice of requiring proper proof of harm before the government intervenes in the family to override parental decisions in any
sphere of the child's upbringing; and

WHEREAS, certain members of the United States Senate have called upon the Secretary of State and the President to forward to them the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for ratification; and

WHEREAS, Article VI of the Constitution of the United States provides that treaties that are ratified by the United States Senate become a part of the "supreme law of the land" and that state laws and constitutions are subservient to such treaties; and

WHEREAS, virtually all law that applies to children and families in Georgia is state law; and

WHEREAS, by virtue of the federal Supremacy Clause, all Georgia law regarding children would be overridden if there is a conflict with this treaty if ratified; and

WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States would acquire primary jurisdiction to legislate to meet our nation's legal obligation to comply with the treaty if ratified, thereby shifting from Georgia and her sister states to the Congress of the United States powers not formerly delegated which are currently reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the treaty is subject to the general rule of international law that "custom" is binding law in many circumstances, rendering the text of a treaty as an unreliable guide to its future meaning; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child at periodic intervals publishes "General Comments" which are substantive additions to the obligations of state parties already under the Convention; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child makes regular determinations regarding the meaning and the application of the treaty, and it would hold these interpretations to be binding on the Congress of the United States and the courts of the United States when interpreting and enforcing the treaty; and

WHEREAS, this represents a wholesale abandonment of the ultimate sovereignty of the United States on matters within the scope of the treaty; and

WHEREAS, this abandonment violates the core principle of our self-government: to wit, only American legislatures and the people themselves have the moral authority to make law for America; and

WHEREAS, the substance of the treaty as interpreted and applied by this official United Nations tribunal bans all corporal punishment, including reasonable spanking by parents; gives the government the authority to review a broad scope of parental decisions without the necessity of proving that the parents are unfit or have harmed the child; allows children and the government to override reasonable and ordinary decisions concerning the religious upbringing of the child; allows the government the ability to review any parental decision concerning the education of their child, even if that decision fully complies with the law of Georgia; requires a level of socialized spending programs for the supposed needs of children, which in too many cases simply employ more government workers, that would bankrupt any American state; and grants to children a legally enforceable right to leisure and many other particular "rights" that are contrary to American traditions and common sense.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body condemn the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and urge the United States Senate to reject its ratification.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed to send a copy of this resolution to each member of the United States Senate.