While class has been a whirlpool
of different cultures, viewpoints, and reasoning, as the American student – I
am rather exhausted, frustrated and sick of my country. While there are many wonderful parts of
America (I think? Although at the moment
I am having a hard time remembering!), in the world of international
development, equality and law – we aren’t the role models we pretend to be.
In our Human Rights course
today, we learned about the Convention on the Rights of the Child – a treaty
that 192 of the 194 member states of the United Nations have ratified. Which two states might you ask have not ratified the treaty? Somalia (which is
unable to proceed with the ratification process because it does not have a
recognizable government and has been in conflict for the past 16 years)
and the United States. I had known, from my work with the UN, that
the US was one of these two states. But
sitting in a room with people from all over the world who suddenly turned
towards me and asked, with total innocence and justifiable curiosity, “Well,
WHY NOT?!” I realized I had no idea what our ‘excuse’ was.
I choked on air – “I, I
mean, I don’t know…I mean I know but I don’t understand the argument…I mean…”
Why might you ask, is the US one of two countries, or as many today
argue, the only country that has the ability to ratify this treaty into law and
has not done so?
Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits sentencing
children under 18 years old to death or life imprisonment with no opportunity
for parole. In 2002, 22 U.S. states
allowed for the execution of juvenile offenders. However in 2005, in the
Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons, the decision found juvenile
execution unconstitutional as "cruel and unusual punishment." The decision cited the Convention as one of
several indications that "the United States now stands alone in a world
that has turned its face against the juvenile death penalty." Yet life sentencing to children is still
possible within the US. The 2010
decision Graham v. Florida limited the sentencing of juveniles to that
of life imprisonment with no opportunity for parole to the crime of
homicide. There are currently 44 states in
the U.S. that still approve of life imprisonment as a possible sentence for
juveniles.
Hearing myself explain to one classmate the justification as to why the
United States could not ratify the CRC was infuriating. I couldn’t believe I was explaining something
so horrific and something that practically and morally, does not make sense! I heard myself explaining the Constitution,
and federalist powers. “Well, the US
claims that the balance between state and national government is very complex –
and the federal government cannot interfere with state affairs, which is what
this treaty would essentially do…” It
was like my mouth was moving and I could hear what I was saying, but the words
were not my own.
How can we, as Americans, promoters of democracy and participation, be one
of TWO states out of 194, not to
sign a treaty on the rights of children?! I hate trying to rationalize why the US does
these things…when they often do not make sense and I often do not agree with
them personally. In that moment, with
all of my classmates looking at me – some in horror, others in disbelief and
shock, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and say “What no, me? Sorry, I’m Canadian.”
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