By Ann W. Parks

Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, delivers the keynote address at “The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Why it is Time to Ratify.” The two-day symposium, held June 1-2, was sponsored by the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic.

Georgetown Law Professor Wallace Mlyniec and Kimberly Svevo-Cianci, a child rights and protection consultant, discuss protection measures for youth.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been in existence for nearly 20 years, yet the United States remains one of only two UN members — along with Somalia — that has failed to ratify it. That’s something that organizers and attendees of a two-day symposium at Georgetown Law are hoping to change, and soon.

The symposium, conducted on June 1 and 2 by the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic, took advantage of the new political climate in Washington to assert anew the call for ratification. One hundred and ninety three other nations have ratified the convention, which sets forth basic standards and principles on behalf of children including the right to protection from abuse, neglect and exploitation; and the right to participate fully in family, cultural, and social life.   

Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff noted in his welcoming remarks that the topics on the agenda for the symposium are of particular importance to him, as they relate to the work that he’s done on immigration and refugee issues. Approximately 7000 to 8000 unaccompanied minors are currently in detention in this country, he said; U.S. immigration laws can also separate families for years.

“There’s lots of work the Convention can do in [this] particular area,” he said, adding that the “winds of change” in Washington are indeed favorable for ratification. “I think this really is the moment to push … for something that should have been done long ago.”

Resetting the moral compass

One of the highlights of Day One was a keynote address by Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. Citing the need for a “very loud, irresistible movement for change,” Edelman called the present political climate “a window of opportunity to reset the moral compass in this country.”

The present leaders of America, she said, should be remembered not by the number of weapons they can amass or how much they can produce, but by the principles and values that they stand for. Edelman spoke of some of the many problems plaguing youth today, including gun violence and the “cradle to prison pipeline” that prevents many minorities from having a meaningful life.

“The test of morality is how a country treats its children,” she said, quoting from the late German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. “Our country flunks Bonhoeffer’s test every hour of every day.”

Alumnus Kevin Ryan (L’92), who helps protect children and youth in his role as the president and CEO of Covenant House International, concluded the first day of the Conference with a further call for ratification. Panels and breakout sessions examined various aspects of the Convention over the course of the two days; Professor Wallace Mlyniec, who heads Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic, explored several provisions relating to the age of juvenile offenders; the fairness of juvenile justice proceedings; and punishments.

“We have developed a system here in the United States that has a highly developed sense of procedural fairness, but also a sense of very severe punishment,” he noted. “The rest of the world has caught onto our notions of fair treatment, but they look at our severe sentences as draconian.”

Voices heard

In a panel discussion on youth participation, Professor Kristin Henning spoke of the right of children to participate in juvenile delinquency proceedings in this country. Mlyniec and Henning both noted that children are routinely denied their right to be heard since they are often encouraged by their parents or by the system to waive the right to counsel.

“There are few judicial proceedings where the child’s voice is more important than juvenile court,” Henning said. Nevertheless, “the juvenile courts are the one place where kids in fact aren’t being heard.”

They were being heard at the symposium, however. High-school students from around the country — the writers of award-winning essays on the CRC — were given the chance to share their thoughts throughout the conference. A final panel composed solely of youth from the Washington, D.C., area spoke not only about the importance of the convention but of the struggles they faced in their own lives.

“If the U.S. would agree to ratify the CRC, I believe that many of the current challenges within the juvenile justice system will change,” said one, a resident of the New Beginnings Youth Development Center in Maryland. “Only through change can the [system] support youth like me who want to change, who want to go to college, who want to succeed in life, but need a second chance.”