Both the States of Somalia and South Sudan are making steps to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), becoming two of the last three countries to ratify the treaty. The States’ ratification of the Convention reflects a changing view on children, says the article, seeing children as human beings with their own rights and not the property of their parents or families. If the two states ratify the treaty, the United States will become the only State not to adopt the CRC, despite the nation’s contribution to drafting the convention in 1989. This article explores some of the reasons behind the US’s failure to ratify the treaty.
