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| Date: From: Subject: | 4/2/2007 12:36:53 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Hawaii: Your Action Needed on Dangerous Resolutions! |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Hawaii--Your Action Needed on Dangerous Resolutions! Dear HSLDA members and friends: The House Human Services and Housing Committee will be hearing two resolutions today at 10:30 a.m. that urge Congress and the State of Hawaii to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child treaty. Your calls, and if possible, your attendance, at the hearing are vitally important let the committee know of the concerns about the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the harm this treaty would cause on our country. House Resolution 48 and House Concurrent Resolution 69 state that "each child needs to be brought up in the spirit of the ideals of the United Nations Charter." These resolutions urge the president to request that Congress ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Additionally, H.R. 48 and H.C.R. 69 urge the State of Hawaii "to adopt the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child as a guideline addressing concerns relating to Hawaii's kieki." As many of you are aware, the U.N. Convention of the Right of the Child is a treaty that is one of the most dangerous attacks on parental rights ever. If ratified by the U.S. Senate, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child would undermine families by granting to children a list of radical "rights" which would be primarily enforced against the parents. These new "fundamental" rights would include "the right to privacy," "the right to freedom of thought and association," and the right to "freedom of expression." Such presumptions subvert the authority of parents to exercise important responsibilities toward their children. Under the UN Convention, parental responsibility exists only in so far as parents are willing to further the independent choices of the child. Please call now and urge the House Human Services and Housing Committee to defeat these resolutions. If you are able to attend the hearing it would be extremely helpful in demonstrating the opposition to these resolutions. ACTION REQUESTED: 1) Please call the Human Services and Housing Committee Members listed below immediately and respectfully give them this message in your own words: "Please oppose H.R.48 and H.C.R. 69. Hawaii should not adopt the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child nor should we urge Congress to ratify this treaty. This treaty would undermine parental rights in the upbringing and control of their children that are foundational to this state and our nation. Adopting this treaty would elevate it to the same level as the U.S. Constitution. Please ensure that both of these resolutions are defeated." Do not identify yourself as a homeschooler; instead you can identify yourself as a concerned citizen and parent. Human Services and Housing Committee Members Representative Maile S. L. Shimabukuro (Chair) Phone: 808-586-8460 Email: repshimabukuro@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Karl Rhoads (Vice-Chair) Phone: 808-586-6180 Email: reprhoads@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Della Au Belatti Phone: 808-586-9425 Email: repbelatti@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Joe Bertram, III Phone: 808-586-8525 From Maui, toll free 984-2400 + 68525 Email: repbertram@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Rida T.R. Cabanilla Phone: 808-586-6080 Email: repcabanilla@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Josh Green, M.D. Phone: 808-586-9605 From the Big Island toll free 974-4000 + 69605 Email: repgreen@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative John Mizuno Phone: 808-586-6050 Email: repmizuno@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative K. Mark Takai Phone: 808-586-8455 Email: reptakai@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative James Kunane Tokioka Phone: 808-586-6270 From Kauai, toll free 274-3141 + 66270 Email: reptokioka@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Karen Leinani Awana Phone: 808-586-8465 Email: repawana@Capitol.hawaii.gov Representative Gene Ward, Ph.D. Phone: 808-586-6420 Email: repward@Capitol.hawaii.gov 2) Please attend the hearing at 10:30 a.m. today if you are able to. Even if you are not able to testify in opposition to the bill your presence alone will be a powerful voice to let the Committee know that there are grave concerns about the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. The hearing on these resolutions will be heard in conference room 329 at the State Capitol. If you would like more information about parking or visiting the Capitol please see http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/info/guide/faq.asp?press1=info&pre ss2=guide BACKGROUND: These resolutions have been forced through the House very quickly. Many of you called two weeks ago when this bill was before the House International Affairs Committee. While the Committee voted unanimously to pass the bill with a few minor changes, at least one of the Representatives voted yes "with reservations." That person was Representative Shimabukuro who is the Chair of the Human Services and Housing Committee. We have an opportunity to provide more information to the Committee before and during this hearing. HSLDA has faxed a lengthy explanation of the reasons why the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child would be harmful for Hawaii and our nation to each Committee member. Some of the contents of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child include a child's: > Right to Freedom of Expression: This right shall include the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through any other media of the child's choice. > Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion: The state would only need to respect a parent's "rights and duties...to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right." Thus, a child could join a cult and prevent the parent from interfering with his or her "right" to do so. > Right to Freedom of Association: A child could determine who his or her friends are against their parents' wishes. > Right to Privacy: A child could not be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence. This could include a right to abortion or sexual activity. > Right to Mass Media: This right would ensure the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources. In order to enforce these "rights" a child would simply have to call a social worker to report their parents for violating their rights. If this treaty becomes binding on the United States, the government would have the power to intervene in a child's life "for the best interest of the child." Currently, the government can intervene in this fashion only by going to court and proving that parents have been abusive or have neglected their children. (This standard also applies in divorce cases on the presumption that the family unit has been broken.) This means that whenever the UN-dominated social services system thought that your parental choices were not the best, the government would have the power to override your choices and protect your child from you. If this treaty becomes binding, all parents would have the same legal status as abusive parents, because the government would have the right to override every parental decision if it deemed the parent's choice contrary to the child's best interest. The ability to homeschool one's children would become not a right, but a UN-supervised activity that could be overturned if social services personnel believed that it would be "best" for your child to receive another form of education. Spanking would be banned under the express terms of the UNCRC. Moreover, children would be required to be taught in a religiously "tolerant manner". (The American Bar Association, which supports the treaty, has already opined that teaching children that Jesus is the only way to God violates the spirit and meaning of the UNCRC.) These are not idle speculations, but the proven result of the UN's own interpretation of the treaty as they have reviewed other nations' compliance with the treaty's provisions. For more information about the concerns with the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child please see: http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000020.asp . Please call now and help defeat these resolutions. We need your help! If you are not yet a member of HSLDA and would like to help us fight for greater homeschool freedom in Hawaii please visit http://www.hslda.org/join/apply.asp . Thank you for your part in fighting for freedom in Hawaii. Sincerely, Thomas Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> How many acorns can a chipmunk hold in its cheeks? We don't know! But we do know that gathering little by little enables ordinary folks to prepare for hard times. That principle is behind HSLDA's payment plan: by paying a month at a time, families can receive an annual HSLDA membership. Meanwhile, they can feel secure as they homeschool and focus on other priorities -- their children. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
