US Alone Against Children's Rights? Try War Profiteering
Newsweek points out the US is the only nation not to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which is true. But the framing implies a mere oversight, rather than a deliberate policy choice rooted in protecting state 'sovereignty' – code for unchecked military adventurism and corporate interests. The actual reasons, according to the State Department itself, include concerns
over parental rights and the idea that the Convention might interfere with US law, particularly when it comes to issues like juvenile justice or child soldiers (a subject America often finds itself on the wrong side of, globally). Perhaps the US standing 'alone' isn't about some abstract principle, but very concrete business: the arms industry and the geopolitical 'stability' that endless war
provides. How many countries that champion children's rights are simultaneously sending billions in arms to conflicts that slaughter children, as the US does for Netanyahu's government in Gaza (which OpenSecrets reports received nearly $300,000 from pro-Israel groups in 2023, while Rep. Mike Johnson received $265,000)? One might imagine ratifying such a convention could be awkward if you're
simultaneously enabling the obliteration of children's hospitals.