Posted on 05/25/2006 4:09:21 PM PDT by wagglebee
PURCELLVILLE, Virginia, May 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A home schooling association is warning that the U.S., and even more so other countries, faces the threat that home schooling may be deemed illegal due to international law.
The Home School Legal Defense Association's (HSLDA) Chairman and General Counsel, Michael Farris, warns that even though the U.S. has never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the convention may still be binding on citizens because of activist judges.
According to a new "interpretation" of what is known as "customary international law," some U.S. judges have ruled that, even though the U.S. Senate and President have never ratified the Convention, it is still binding on American parents. "In the 2002 case of Beharry v. Reno, one federal court said that even though the Convention was never ratified, it still has an 'impact on American law'," Farris explained. "The fact that virtually every other nation in the world has adopted it has made it part of customary international law, and it means that it should be considered part of American jurisprudence."
Under the Convention, severe limitations are placed on a parent's right to direct and train their children. As explained in a 1993 Home School Court Report by the HSLDA, under Article 13, parents could be subject to prosecution for any attempt to prevent their children from interacting with material they deemed unacceptable. Under Article 14, children are guaranteed "freedom of thought, conscience and religion" - in other words, children have a legal right to object to all religious training. And under Article 15, the child has a right to "freedom of association." "If this measure were to be taken seriously, parents could be prevented from forbidding their child to associate with people deemed to be objectionable companions," the HSLDA report explained.
Farris explains that, in 1995, "the United Kingdom was deemed out of compliance" with the Convention "because it allowed parents to remove their children from public school sex-education classes without consulting the child". Farris argues that, "by the same reasoning, parents would be denied the ability to homeschool their children unless the government first talked with their children and the government decided what was best. This committee would even have the right to determine what religious teaching, if any, served the child's best interest."
Farris suggests that there are several solutions to the dangers presented by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child for Americans. "First, Congress has the power to define customary international law. It also has the power to modify the jurisdiction of federal courts. Congress needs to address this issue of judicial tyranny by enacting legislation that limits the definition of customary international law to include only provisions of treaties that Congress has ratified."
"Second, Congress could pass an amendment to the Constitution, stating explicitly that no provision of any international agreement can supersede the constitutional rights of an American citizen. Two such amendments have been proposed in Congress, but neither was ratified."
"Third, the specific threat to parental rights can be solved by putting a clear parents' rights amendment into the black and white text of the United States Constitution."
In countries like the UK and Canada, which have already ratified the Convention, it is less clear what measures can be adopted, although similar measures are likely possible.
Read the 1993 Home School Court Report by HSLDA:
http://www.lifesite.net/waronfamily/unicef/homeschoolalert.h...
See related LifeSiteNews.com and Interim coverage:
New UN Convention a Threat to Canadians
http://www.lifesite.net/waronfamily/unicef/newunconvention.h...
Focus On The Family Calls Un Child Convention "A Danger"
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/jun/01060703.html
U.S. Homeschooling Parents May be Forced to Teach Against Their Moral Principles
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/oct/03100607.html
Home School Ping.
Get the US out of the UN, and the UN out of the US. And while we're at it, get rid of activist judges!
Why should they when they can get American Courts to do it for them.
Laws will be the death of us yet.
"Farris explains that, in 1995, "the United Kingdom was deemed out of compliance" with the Convention "because it allowed parents to remove their children from public school sex-education classes without consulting the child". Farris argues that, "by the same reasoning, parents would be denied the ability to homeschool their children unless the government first talked with their children and the government decided what was best. This committee would even have the right to determine what religious teaching, if any, served the child's best interest." H I L L A R Y C A R E!!!
We need National Burn a UN Flag day. And Ted Turner flies one above his penthouse in Atlanta too, what a loser.
No new constitutional amendment is necessary. The Consttution already states that the supreme law of the land is the Constitutional and laws made pursuant to it. Any interpretation to the contrary is therefore illegitimate, and is a usurpation.
Judges who rule in favor of "international law" and aginst our constitutional rights should be impeached or otherwise removed from office (as by whatever legal procedures are in place in the states for removing corrupt or incompetant judges).
It is a mistake in the long run to think that we can write into the Constitution safeguards which will grant us immunity against judicial usurpation. The safeguards are already there. What is needed is the political will to protect our rights.
Rights must be defended, and exercised, and taught, or they will be lost. A culture which decays will lose the love of its traditional liberties, and the rights which we consider part of our culture will disappear.
Rights must be defended, and exercised, and taught, or they will be lost. A culture which decays will lose the love of its traditional liberties, and the rights which we consider part of our culture will disappear.
We need both respect for the Law and the libertarian will to elect representatives who will exercise sovereignty.
Disrespect wrongful authority - then overthrow it.
Treaties ratified by the proceedures specified in the Constitution have the force of law. If we have not ratified some of these international treaties, they are not legally significant in our country.
Furthermore, we should not ratify most of those grand-sounding international codes, because they are the wosrt sort of law: they are vague, general, and applicable by almost any actions of a dictator. That is why it is very important that the public understand that good intentions count for little in framing law. Mush of the bad law in New Jersey comes from vague, sentimental wishes in out lousy state constitution, which give free reign for judges to impliment any rule they themselves think appropriate. For example, there is no reason whatsoever that a state constitution should say anything like "every child shall be given a thorogh education," when no one can define what "thorough" means. Many (if not most) of our state constitutions have gaping openings like that, which were appealing to an idealistic but somewhat stupid public; and the public pays for such mistakes almost without limit.
Let my native state (NJ) be an example: we have the worst supreme court, the most corrupt politics, and (considering our material wealth) one of the worst public education systems in the country. Our onerous tax system drives retirees out of the state, which breaks up families across generations. Our urban crime rate is exceeded only is a few places (such as Detroit or Atlanta or DC). We have no recourse to refendendum and recall, as in some Western states. Learn from the example of NJ, and beware!
The unspoken right to educate your own child as you see fit is already there--Amendment IX. All it takes is some Federal Judge, even with an amendment which explicitely enumerates the right, to circumvent it. Look at the 2nd Amendment.
Any judge which uses this Convention, or any other excuse, to supercede our God given right to educate our own children ought to be "chastised."
Yes!
I wish I shared your trust in our government. Watching our Senate sell us down the river today with our President's blessings, makes me lose faith that we can trust ANY of the elitist SOB's any more. They made sure Bush's globalization plan surged ahead, and THAT definitely involves his love for his precious UN.
ping
getting the USA out of the UN will not change the minds of these judges.
You have to take over the law schools and the STATE BAR associations. You literally have to remove the communists from the legal profession and thus out of the potential judges pool.
HOMESCHOOL PING!
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