A September 9 “ruling” by its committee has proven what opponents of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, or Convention) have claimed all along: that the United States cannot both ratify the Convention and preserve American sovereignty.
According to an October 2 release from Human Rights Watch, an internationalist organization which supports the treaty, “A landmark ruling by a United Nations body found that Hungary’s voting laws are disenfranchising people with disabilities…. These governments are required to review their laws and practices to eliminate any provisions that [conflict with the ruling].”
This proves the point that has concerned constitutional lawyer Michael Farris of ParentalRights.org and the Home School Legal Defense Association all along: the CRPD-created committee is issuing rulings on the meaning of the treaty, and the international community and non-government organizations (NGOs) are recognizing these rulings as legally enforceable under international law.
Secretary of State John Kerry and the State Department have persistently denied that the committee has any such power, assuring senators and concerned voters that ratification of the CRPD would not affect American sovereignty. Next to this recent CRPD committee decision, Human Rights Watch’s release, and the warnings of treaty opponents, however, it is clear that the State Department’s view is the outlier.
“We don’t buy [Department of State’s] attempts to mislead the Senate on the meaning and application of international law,” Farris, who holds a degree in Public International Law, declared in a statement. “We as a nation must interpret a treaty as the international community looks at it.”
The ruling, according to Human Rights Watch, “applies to all 137 countries that have adopted the [CRPD]” – not only the 78 who have agreed to be bound by the optional protocol regarding a complaint procedure.
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