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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, On November 20, 1989, the United Nations General
3Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child
4(Convention) to promote basic human rights for all children;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, The Convention aims to protect children from
7discrimination, neglect, and abuse by establishing a full range
8of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights; and
 
9    WHEREAS, With the exception of the United States, South
10Sudan, and Somalia, every other member state of the United
11Nations - 193 countries - have ratified and accepted the
12Convention; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Although the United States had considerable
14influence in the drafting of the Convention and subsequently
15signed it on February 16, 1995, the Convention has never been
16presented to the U.S. Senate for advise and consent - the
17necessary and final step to U.S. ratification; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Without U.S. Senate approval, the Convention has
19no effect on children living in the United States, thereby
20leaving them without the protections contained within this
21important treaty; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, President Obama has previously called the United
2States' failure to ratify the Convention "embarrassing" and
3promised to conduct an internal review of this matter;
4therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
6NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
7we urge President Obama to submit the U.N. Convention on the
8Rights of the Child to the U.S. Senate for its advice and
9consent without delay, and further call on the U.S. Senate to
10move swiftly to approve the Convention.