The United States and Somalia are the only two countries to not have ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). Now that the death penalty is unconstitutional as applied to children, it is time we force Republicans to ratify it.
Previously, the GOP has used the juvenile death penalty as an excuse for not ratifying the treaty. Now, they will have no excuse. They simply cannot have a message that will work, are already weak on human rights given Gitmo and Abu Gharib, and this would be a horribly difficult thing to oppose. Meanwhile, the benefits would be enormous.
First, it would permanently insulate the end of the juvenile death penalty.
Second, it would require immigration courts to consider the effects of their decision on children.
Third, it would establish minimal welfare rights for children that will become more and more enforceable in courts, as courts continue to use international legal norms to interpret Constitutional rights.
Fourth, it would weaken the administration's efforts, behind-the-scenes, to block rules designed to end child soldiers.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/...
Please call your (Democratic) Congressman and Senator, particularly if that person has a leadership position or 2008 ambitions. If nothing else, it will put the GOP in a weak position entering the 2006 elections.