Senators Line Up To Tell U.N. To Leave Kids Alone

Thirty-one Republican senators have agreed to oppose the United Nations' "Convention on the Rights of the Child" treaty, and critics of the international plan to vest children with a long list of rights – such as a right to seek government review of parental decisions – are looking for three more names.

The campaign by supporters of ParentalRights.org opposes an effort to put the U.N. advocacy plan into operation in the United States.

So far, the senators who have joined to oppose what critics have described as a usurpation of parents' rights by international bureaucrats are: Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain of Arizona, Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch of Idaho, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts of Kansas, Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Sen. Christopher Bond of Missouri, Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sens. Tom Coburn and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Sens. Robert Bennett and Orrin Hatch of Utah and Sens. John Barrasso and Michael Enzi of Wyoming.

Senator Barbara Boxer and others have been pressuring the Senate leadership to quickly ratify the treaty.

The resolution states the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child should not even be presented to the Senate for a vote, which would require two-thirds approval for ratification, because it "is contrary to the principles of self-government and federalism, and ... because the United Nations Convention on the Rights of theChild undermines traditional principles of law in the United States regarding parents and children."The 1990s-era plan was pushed through the U.N. and ratified quickly by 193 nations worldwide, but not the U.S. or Somalia. In Somalia, there was no recognized government to do the formal recognition, and in the United States there's been opposition to its power.When ratified, nations then are bound to follow the international document as law.

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