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4/24/2007 3:18:42 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Hawaii: Update--Calls Needed on Joint U.N. Resolution!

====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== April 24, 2007 Hawaii: Update--Calls Needed on Joint U.N. Resolution! Dear HSLDA members and friends: Thank you for your swift and persistent action against the two resolutions introduced in the House urging the adoption of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Your calls and the attendance of several individuals at various hearings made a difference. While the single-house resolution, House Resolution 48, did pass, your calls influenced seven representatives to vote against the Resolution. Another five representatives were excused from the vote. Since most resolutions sail through, this does amount to substantial accomplishment. House Concurrent Resolution 69 is still alive and has been sent over to the Senate for action. H.C.R. 69 is currently in the Senate Human Services and Public Housing Committee and the Transportation and International Affairs Committee. While the House has voted to urge the adoption of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child you can still have an impact on whether the Senate does so as well. Please contact the Senate Committee members listed below and urge them to defeat H.C.R. 69. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact the committee members listed below and respectfully give them this message in your own words: "Please oppose 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." You do not need to identify yourself as a homeschooler; instead you can identify yourself as a concerned citizen. Transportation and International Affairs: Senator J. Kalani English, Chairman Phone: 808-587-7225 senenglish@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Lorraine R. Inouye, Vice Chair Phone: 808-586-7335 Email: seninouye@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Will Espero Phone: 808-586-6360 Email: senespero@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Gary L. Hooser Phone: 808-586-6030 Email: senhooser@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Brian Taniguchi Phone: 808-586-6460 Email: sentaniguchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Shan S. Tsutsui Phone: 808-586-7344 Email: sentsutsui@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Mike Gabbard Phone: 808-586-6830 Email: sengabbard@Capitol.hawaii.gov Human Services and Public Housing Committee Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, Chairwoman Phone: 808-586-6130 Email: senchunoakland@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Les Ihara, Jr., Vice Chair Phone: 808-586-6250 Email: senihara@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Gary L. Hooser Phone: 808-586-6030 Email: senhooser@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Norman Sakamoto Phone: 808-586-8585 Email: sensakamoto@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Fred Hemmings Phone: 808-587-8388 Email: senhemmings@Capitol.hawaii.gov BACKGROUND: The House voted 39 to 7 in favor of H.R. 48 and H.C.R. 69. While this is disappointing, your phone calls and hard work has helped educate the House regarding these resolutions and the concerns about the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. 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. 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 U.N.-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 U.N.-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 U.N.'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 . HSLDA 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 House member and we will send a similar fax to the Senate committee members as well. 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> What do you look like when you get out of bed? It's hard to look our best all the time. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ======================================================================