Human Rights Watch Says US States Overwhelmingly Fail to Meet Child Rights Standards
A Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday has uniformly condemned US state laws protecting child rights, with only four states receiving as high as a C, according to a release
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) A Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday has uniformly condemned US state laws protecting child rights, with only four states receiving as high as a C, according to a release.
"For people who believe the US is treating its children well, this assessment is a rude awakening," Children's Rights Advocacy Director Jo Becker said in a release. "When it comes to child marriage, hazardous child labor, extreme prison sentences, and violent treatment of children, the vast majority of US states have abysmal laws. State policymakers should act quickly to better protect their children."
Aside from the "C" states of New Jersey, Ohio, Iowa, and Minnesota, 26 states were graded "D" and 20 states received an "F."
The report assessed 12 state laws in each state regarding four issues - child marriage, corporal punishment, child labor, and juvenile justice - against the standards of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This is the Primary international treaty on children's rights and was adopted by the UN in 1989.
The US is the only country in the world that has yet to ratify the convention. Many children's rights issues are left to the jurisdiction of state rather than the Federal government in the US, leading to wide variation across states.
Child marriage is legal in 43 states. Corporal punishment of children is legal in all states, with 23 states permitting it in schools and 16 states allowing it in child penal institutions. The US is the only country that sentences children under 18 to life in prison without parole, and does not prohibit prosecuting children in adult courts, trying an estimated 53,000 children in them each year.