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THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release: Thursday, May 9, 2002
Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
Annie Goeke, International Committee, 717-468-1880, ajgoeke@igc.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Greens have welcomed Jean Marc Nollet,
Minister for Children's Affairs in the Belgian government and Green
Party member, who is visiting the United States for the United Nations
Special Session on Children. Minister Nollet visited Washington
yesterday and met with a delegation of the US Green Party to discuss the
failure of the United States to ratify the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
"Childhood is the foundation for the future potential of
citizens," said Nollet. "Childhood is when we invest our
citizens with basic values of justice, equality, and equal opportunity
but also, in the long term, equality with results. Today, we should be
concerned about the development of our blossoming young people. To give
up ratifying the Convention of the Rights of the Child is to deny the
future goals of justice and equality. Such denial scorns the adults of
tomorrow and the world that we will leave to them."
The Green Party of the United States sent a letter (appended below) to
President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, urging the United
States to ratify the convention and to support a list of positions put
forward by the European Ministers in charge of childhood.
Nollet met with Gail Dixon, a former D.C. Statehood Green Party member
of the District of Columbia School Board, Green Party International
Committee member Anne Anderson, and Green Party Political Coordinator
Dean Myerson.
"Minister Nollet wanted to know why the United States refuses to
participate in the Convention," said Myerson. "The rest of the
world is working to improve the situation for so many children living in
poverty in the U.S. and around the world, and the U.S. again is standing
aside."
Dixon described the poor condition of schools in Washington to Nollet
and the challenges faced in providing basic needs for children there,
while Anderson described the political blockages to U.S. ratification of
the convention.
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
http://gpus.org
National office:
1314 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Letter from the Green Party of
the United States
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
May 7, 2002
Dear President Bush,
Along with many people in the US and around the world, the Green Party
of the United States supports the ratification of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. On the occasion of the UN Special
Session on Children starting Wednesday, May 8, we urge you to work with
the United States Senate to finally ratify the Convention on the Rights
of the Child. We hope that the United States government will take
this important step to join other nations in making our world fit for
children.
We also ask that the U.S. Representatives become partners with the
European Ministers from The European Meeting of Ministers in charge of
Childhood who have put forward a list of positions in regard to the
Special Session. We feel strongly that adopting this document will
ensure that basic legal standards are promoted in
the protection of children's rights.
It is time for the United States government to start leading the world
in demonstrating its concern for the well-being of children everywhere.
Our support for the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be an
important symbolic step in the right direction.
Sincerely,
Green Party of the United States
cc Colin Powell
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