Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Urge your Senator to oppose ratification of CRPD

Rick and Karen Santorum are opposing the ratification of the United Nations convention  of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They, along with Senator Lee of Utah and the Home School Legal Defense Association have read the bill and fear that it may lead to the loss of parental rights over our children with disabilities. From the Patriot Voices website.

CRPD, if ratified, threatens U.S. sovereignty and parental rights and would effectively put the U.S. under international law when it comes to parenting special needs children. One provision in the treaty would give the government, acting under U.N. instructions, the ability to determine for all children with disabilities what is best for them. It would also give the U.N. discretion over decisions about how special needs kids are educated and could potentially eliminate parental rights for the education of children with disabilities. 

Senator Lee has been instrumental in fighting the ratification of several UN Treaties, including CRPD. He authored a letter to his colleagues asking them to commit to not consider any U.N. treaties in the lame duck session. Patriot Voices, along with HSLDA and others, helped to delay consideration of CRPD before the election and is rallying its members again to stop this treaty.

Here is an action page with sample letters to your Senators, your local paper, and a petition to sign. 

When the Nazis wanted to eliminate those with disabilities in Germany, they called upon parents to voluntarily institutionalize their children. Soon the officials in charge sentenced these children to death by starvation, exposure, and gas chambers. This is the infamous T4 Program. The people trusted their government. Does our government believe in the inherent worth of our children? Rick Santorum said no tonight on Piers Morgan's Show. He said that Bella's diagnosis of trisomy 18 is deemed 'incompatible with life'. Medical professionals advised the Santorums to let Bella die. She has defied the odds, living past her fourth birthday, and the Santorums will not allow anyone to take her life, but if this treaty passes, they may have to give their lives to defend hers.
We are the ones who care for our children with love and patience, we must never surrender them to the authorities who claim to know what is best. Think of institutions in our own country like Willowbrook where children like ours were starved and neglected in filth.
Never surrender your parental rights, especially when your child is particularly vulnerable.

Update Nov 27 from Tony Perkins of  Family Research Council


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that he plans to begin floor consideration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Tuesday.

The United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) would pose serious problems for the United States if it were ratified today. Though it is touted as the progeny and logical follow-up to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991, it is in fact more of a power grab than humanitarian action.

U.S. sovereignty is at issue on a number of fronts, including that the CRPD presumes the establishment of rights contained in treaties that the United States has not ratified, including the International Covenant on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). These rights are not recognized by the United States Constitution, nor are provided by existing U.S. laws - however U.S. courts could use the ratification of the CRPD to force Americans to comply with other UN treaties which are against American interests.

The original ADA equally protects the rights of all parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children, regardless of the disability status of parent or child. The CRPD would take away this right, obligating our government to ensure that "in all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration." The phrase "best interests of the child" is an international law "term of art," its meaning firmly established through consistent application by other bodies, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child. As one international legal scholar explains, "Best interests provides decision and policy makers with the authority to substitute their own decisions for either the child's or the parents' provided it is based on consideration of the best interests of the child." In ratifying the CRPD, the government would apply this standard only to parents of disabled children - a position antithetical to the protection for parents provided by the ADA.

I urge you to contact your senators today, and let them know that parents of disabled children deserve the same rights as all parents.Bookmark and Share

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