HR0552 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0552 LRB098 12747 KTG 47230 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On November 20, 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Convention) to promote basic human rights for all children; and

WHEREAS, The Convention aims to protect children from discrimination, neglect, and abuse by establishing a full range of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights; and

WHEREAS, With the exception of the United States, South Sudan, and Somalia, every other member state of the United Nations - 193 countries - have ratified and accepted the Convention; and

WHEREAS, Although the United States had considerable influence in the drafting of the Convention and subsequently signed it on February 16, 1995, the Convention has never been presented to the U.S. Senate for advise and consent - the necessary and final step to U.S. ratification; and

WHEREAS, Without U.S. Senate approval, the Convention has no effect on children living in the United States, thereby leaving them without the protections contained within this important treaty; and

WHEREAS, President Obama has previously called the United States' failure to ratify the Convention "embarrassing" and promised to conduct an internal review of this matter; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge President Obama to submit the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent without delay, and further call on the U.S. Senate to move swiftly to approve the Convention.