CHOIS Connection is published quarterly by Christian Homeschoolers Of Idaho State.
This article appeared in a previous issue.

CHOIS Connection

Res' Piece
by Res Peters

"Evil Twins"
published Winter 2009

"The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state."

The timeless words of Margaret Sanger, the United Nations, or Ronald Reagan?

Although Ronald Reagan would have agreed with this statement, its unlikely source is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a 1948 founding document of the United Nations (UN).

And even more surprising, by 1960, the UN General Assembly asserted that all people have inalienable rights to complete freedom and state sovereignty. In 1966, it recognized the family's responsibility for the care and education of its children including schools not established by the state. And a decade later, the UN affirmed the rights of parents to choose their children's education in conformity with their own convictions and as an extension of their fundamental right of religious freedom.

Why, then, do we find ourselves striving against the UN today to uphold these basic rights? The answer: Social deconstructionists, assigning their own meanings to words, in unaccountable positions of power.

As with our own Declaration of Independence, the UN Declaration enumerates specific human rights. To implement those rights treaties are enacted, which are legally binding only on the nations that ratify them. But much like our Supreme Court, the seeds of destruction lie in the committees selected to interpret and make recommendations concerning compliance with the treaties.

In the past three decades, two particular treaties have become the vehicle for dismantling parental rights. The familiar Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its equally evil twin, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The CRC Committee is composed of 18 "experts" in human rights, international law, and juvenile justice. A cadre of 23 women's issues "experts" sits on the CEDAW Committee.

Both committees evaluate the progress of signatory nations in complying with each committee's interpretation of the treaties. Under the overarching rubric of "discrimination" and "best interests of women and children," the committees dismiss the original intent of the UN Declaration and the provisions of the treaties. And with discrimination defined as any distinction, exclusion, or restriction made on the basis of sex that impairs women's equality with men, their latitude is virtually unbounded.

Committee recommendations are binding on those nations the committees determine to be in violation. Supported by quotes in academic journals and US court citings, the recommendations are now given credence as emerging customary international law. Ignoring state sovereignty, they claim this emerging law is binding on the United States even without treaty ratification.

Working hand in hand, the Evil Twins take a right introduced in one treaty then reinforce and expand it in the other. The CRC child's right to contraceptives, abortion, and state sex education without parental permission is augmented by CEDAW to legalize prostitution as a profession including labor and social law protections. China, for example, has been warned to provide state care for the sexual health of prostitutes. Excluding illegal prostitutes is discriminatory.

While CRC promotes the right of the child to determine his educational choices and associations, CEDAW establishes state-sponsored daycare from birth as a surrogate family. Denigrating the stereotypical roles of women in the home, the Committee has censured several nations for celebrating Mother's Day. And Slovenia has been condemned for having only 30 percent of children under three in public daycare while the rest are in the care of family. Motherhood is discriminatory.

Concerning religious freedom, children under the CRC have the right to choose their religious training apart from their parents, while CEDAW negates religious freedom and freedom of conscience altogether when in conflict with full implementation of the treaty. Religiously-affiliated hospitals and medical personnel with religious or conscientious objection must none-the-less perform abortions. And further, in Ireland, on the basis of their national religious culture, the Committee invalidates the democratic will of the people in voting to legally oppose abortion.

Nations as diverse as Norway, Indonesia, and China are censured for protecting religious minorities. The Committee's claim? "Cultural and religious values cannot be allowed to undermine the universality of women's rights," that is, abortion. Even Libya has been told to reinterpret its religious laws and scripture to conform to the treaty. Religion and freedom of conscience is discriminatory.

In the United States, past liberal administrations and congressional leaders have considered these treaties too controversial to present for senate ratification. However, in her confirmation hearing and again this past summer, Susan Rice, our current Ambassador to the UN, affirmed her intention to move both treaties forward. Having been signed by President Clinton in 1995, CRC lacks only 67 senate votes to become law. Once signed by President Obama, CEDAW will be only 67 senate votes away from ratification as well. And without the Parental Rights Amendment to our federal Constitution in effect, the treaties will trump all state and federal statutes, and any rights not expressly guaranteed in our Constitution. Unfortunately our Founding Fathers did not anticipate the need to expressly guarantee what was universally accepted 200 years ago, parental rights. ¹

What can be done? We must pass the Parental Rights Amendment to guarantee the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of our children. This is the only legal remedy to the Evil Twins.

To do so will require the participation of 4 million people to bring this to a vote in Congress. With an estimated 500,000 homeschooling families in the United States, each family will need to motivate six non-homeschoolers to contact their Congressmen. If only half of the homeschooling families participate, the number of recruits doubles to twelve.

As of this writing, only one of Idaho's congressmen, Senator Jim Risch, is a co-sponsor of the amendment. When the ICHE and CHOIS boards met with him late this summer, he was unaware of the bill, but within minutes signed on after reading it.

This underscores the effectiveness of the current administration's tactics to move forward their socialist agenda: Overwhelm and distract. With the enormity of the issues swirling around, from ObamaCare to the war in Afghanistan, and the maneuverings to slip through unread and publicly undisclosed legislation, the information overload is overpowering.

When Senator Risch's staff researched their constituent contacts on this issue, they discovered that they had received many. But the roar of the other weighty distractions muted the parental rights calls. Bolstered by the emails and phone calls he has received Senator Risch is now an enthusiastic supporter that will hopefully be persuasive with his colleagues. Our other three congressmen need our continued contacts asking them why they are not co-sponsors. And Senator Risch deserves each of our thanks.

What must you do?

• Keep Informed
  Join the weekly email network from ParentalRights.org. Read the ICHE Weekly Update which will inform members if CRC or CEDAW comes forward in the senate. Join at iche-idaho.org.
• Respond
  Continue to email and phone our congressmen to co-sponsor SJR 16 (Senate) or HJR 42 (House). Contact Senator Mike Crapo at www.crapo.senate.gov or (202)224-6142. Congressman Walt Minnick at www.minnick.house.gov or (202)225-6611. Congressman Mike Simpson at www.house.gov/simpson or (202)225-5531.
• Recruit
  Contact 6 to 12 non-homeschoolers to contact our congressmen and join the email network at ParentalRights.org. This issue applies to all parents, children, and grandchildren.

And remember, all that is necessary for Evil Twins to triumph is for good homeschoolers to do nothing. Do something. Now.

1 For a complete discussion of CRC and CEDAW see How U.N. Conventions on Women's and Children's Rights Undermine Family, Religion, and Sovereignty. http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF09E38.pdf

RES PETERS is the State Director of Testing for the Idaho Coalition of Home Educators. She resides with her husband, Barry, in Eagle, Idaho where they have home educated their two post-collegiate daughters through high school.

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