[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 70 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 70

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need for the President 
to seek the advice and consent of the Senate to the ratification of the 
         United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             February 16 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

   Mr. Bradley (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Hatfield) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need for the President 
to seek the advice and consent of the Senate to the ratification of the 
         United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Whereas the future peace and prosperity of all nations depend upon the good 
        health and well-being of the world's children;
Whereas Congress has long recognized the vulnerability of children and has 
        enacted numerous laws that afford children special protections in the 
        United States;
Whereas millions of children worldwide are threatened daily by poverty, 
        malnutrition, homelessness, exploitation, and abuse, depriving both 
        family and society of the productivity and potential of the children;
Whereas the Child Survival and Development Revolution, launched in 1982 to 
        attack the root causes of infant mortality and child ill-health through 
        low-cost means such as universal child immunization and oral rehydration 
        therapy, is saving the lives of more than 3,000,000 children each year 
        and has demonstrated that the number of child deaths can be reduced 
        significantly if available resources are used appropriately;
Whereas despite the gains in lives saved and an emerging international consensus 
        about the importance of protecting children, children both in the United 
        States and abroad will continue to face poverty, sickness, and ill-
        treatment;
Whereas on November 20, 1989, the United States and other members of the United 
        Nations unanimously endorsed the United Nations Convention on the Rights 
        of the Child and urged national governments to ratify the Convention and 
        make possible the application of the Convention as international law;
Whereas the Convention, if implemented, will help establish universal legal 
        standards for the care and protection of children against neglect, 
        exploitation, and abuse;
Whereas the Federal Government, scores of private voluntary organizations, and 
        hundreds of American citizens were actively involved in the drafting of 
        the Convention;
Whereas as of January 1993, 128 countries have become parties to the Convention 
        by ratification or accession, and 24 others have signed the Convention, 
        indicating an intention to ratify the Convention in the future;
Whereas the United States is the only Western industrialized nation that has 
        neither signed nor ratified the Convention, and the United States stands 
        with Iraq, and Libya as one of fewer than 30 countries that neither is a 
        party to the Convention nor has signed the Convention; and
Whereas the United States must regain a leading role in the implementation of 
        the Convention to ensure that the Convention remains a force for 
        improving the lot of children, both in the United States and abroad: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the issue of children's rights and well-being is 
        important both to the United States and the world; and
            (2) in consideration of the importance of the issue, the 
        President should promptly seek the advice and consent of the 
        Senate to the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of 
        the Child, adopted by the United Nations with the support of 
        the United States on November 29, 1989.
    Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
resolution to the President.

                                 <all>