Parenting for Peace

Convention on
The Rights of the Child
campaign

Grand Rapids area campaign for USA ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the U. N. General Assembly on 20 November (Universal Children’s Day), 1989. Exactly nineteen years later Parenting for Peace, working under the auspices of the Institute for Global Education (IGE), began a local campaign to help secure USA ratification. We believe it should not take 20 years for the USA to ratify the CRC!

Here is some basic information about the CRC:

Nations that ratify the CRC agree to respect and support the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents to provide direction and guidance for the development of their children. In addition, the CRC calls on governments to develop policies conducive to family and community environments that will allow children to grow up in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.

The CRC sets forth basic norms and standards that individual nations agree to pursue on behalf of their children. Those internationally recognized norms include:

Protection from violence, abuse and abduction
Protection from hazardous employment and exploitation
Adequate nutrition
Free primary education
Adequate health care
Equal treatment regardless of gender, race or cultural background.

Effects so far in various countries have included separation of detained juveniles from adults and providing them legal representation, extended ability to prosecute for child prostitution and pornography, reform of the child protection system, training of criminal justice personnel in child-friendly practices, revised justice codes for children, reduction in hitting and other abuse of children.

We of Parenting for Peace work with other groups, local and otherwise, including the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the CRC, a national coalition which brings together many interested groups. See childrightscampaign.org for more info on that coalition and on the CRC. We are also looking into the possibility of getting a City of Grand Rapids resolution in support of the Convention.

If this effort excites you, we welcome your help! If you have ideas, please share them. We are open, we love enthusiasm, and we value diverse approaches.

For more information about the local campaign or about Parenting for Peace, including meeting times, contact us at IGE: ige@iserv.net or (616)-454-1642.

Links:  brochure  resources  history  Convention on the Rights of the Child campaign