Recently the U.N. special representative on violence against
children called on member countries to ratify two optional
protocols to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child
which would help prevent the sale of children, child
prostitution, child pornography and the involvement of children
in armed conflict around the world. The Convention was adopted
in 1989 to promote basic human rights for children everywhere,
but the latest effort to extend those protections underscores a
disturbing truth: the United States is one of only two U.N.
member countries not to have ratified the original Convention
(the other country is Somalia — which doesn’t have a functioning
government.) The Convention was drafted during the Reagan and
Clinton administrations — with a great deal of influence from
the United States — but has never been presented to the Senate
for consent, which is the final step to ratification. Why? The
opposition is primarily based on fears of U.N. interference in
U.S. laws and families. The biggest w