News Release - Thursday, May 09, 2002

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Belgian Green Party Minister Visits United States.

Greens press U.S. ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.


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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News Release - Thursday, May 09, 2002

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