UN and homeschooling in Belgium

[Pat McCotter]

The Belgium constitution allows home schooling, but police have threatened home-schooling parents with arrest, according to reports posted on the conservative Brussels Journal Web site in August. The reason for the threats, according to police, is that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty signed by Belgium (but not by the United States), now imposes restrictions on parental rights in educational matters.

Auf Wiedersehn

...
The news in September read like a script for The Sound of Music 2006 : Austria Today reported German police jailed Katharina Plett for her refusal to obey a Nazi-era law banning home schooling. The next day, her husband and children fled across the border to Austria.

The European Court of Human Rights later upheld Germany?s right to prosecute home schoolers. Russian Baptist home schoolers?mostly Russian Baptist immigrants and German Mennonites, who form the nucleus of the mostly underground movement in Germany.

Prosecution is spreading to other European nations. The Belgium constitution allows home schooling, but police have threatened home-schooling parents with arrest, according to reports posted on the conservative Brussels Journal Web site in August. The reason for the threats, according to police, is that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty signed by Belgium (but not by the United States), now imposes restrictions on parental rights in educational matters.

There?s a threat to the hard-won right to home school in America, too. One need only think back to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court?s verdict last year in the Palmdale, Calif., School District sex-survey scandal, which declared that a parent?s right to guide his or her child?s education ?does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door.?

Alliance Defense Fund in Scottsdale, Ariz., is concerned that American judges will follow the European court?s lead and issue an outright ban on home schooling.

?We will fight any attempt by opponents of American home schoolers to seize upon this opinion and attempt to import it into U.S. courts,? said Benjamin Bull, chief counsel for ADF.

There are an estimated 1.2 million home schoolers in the United States.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Join us in Winchester, NH on Dec. 16 for our third annual U.N. Flag Burning

[Sweet Mercury]

Oh man, I had so many dragged out, throw-down arguments with mindless authoritarians over this on other forums, it was painful.

We can't just say "eh, that won't happen in the US," we have to actively make sure that it never happens in the US.

[Spencer]

Straight from the horse's mouth are the following portions of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child:

Article 28
1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right
progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

(a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

(b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and
vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate
measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need;

(c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;

(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children;

(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in
a manner consistent with the child's human dignity and in conformity with the present Convention.

3. States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating to
education, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of ignorance and illiteracy
throughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching
methods. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Article 29

1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

(a) The development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest
potential;

(b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

(c) The development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and
values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or
she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own;

(d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding,
peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious
groups and persons of indigenous origin;

(e) The development of respect for the natural environment.

2. No part of the present article or article 28 shall be construed so as to interfere with the liberty of
individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions, subject always to the observance
of the principle set forth in paragraph 1 of the present article and to the requirements that the
education given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may be laid down by
the State.

But, it is not too late for Belgium (or any other signatory nations):

Article 52

A State Party may denounce the present Convention by written notification to the Secretary-General of
the United Nations. Denunciation becomes effective one year after the date of receipt of the
notification by the Secretary-General.

http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf

Denounce!  Denounce!  Denounce!

[Rocketman]

We may not be able to stop this in other states, but we will definitely stop it in NH. 
If the school Nazis do take over a state or two,
we'll just have to send a few of these.   

       

[error]

The U.S. never signed that convention, and from what I understand, doesn't intend to.

[Sweet Mercury]

The U.S. never signed that convention, and from what I understand, doesn't intend to.

Ha. If there's one thing you can count on conservatives in this country for, it's their love of home schooling and their hatred of the UN.

edit: hey, that's two things!

[KBCraig]

The U.S. never signed that convention, and from what I understand, doesn't intend to.

Hillary pushed hard for ratification, along with her cohort Marian Wright Edelman. I would not be surprised if they continue a behind-the-scenes push for ratification.

Kevin

[Michael Fisher]

Ha. If there's one thing you can count on conservatives in this country for, it's their love of home schooling and their hatred of the UN.

edit: hey, that's two things!

I wish there were more truth to that statement...