79-11-A4

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International Year of the Child

Transcript A recent article in a certain publication contains the following assertion. "Society's attitude to children is a yardstick for its character, humanism and observance of human rights ... Soviet children enjoy in full the rights stipulated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly." You may think this incredible statement could have appeared only in Pravda. But no, this benevolent evaluation of the rights of Soviet children appeared in a recent issue of the "International Year of the Child" newsletter published by the United Nations. This same issue contains a front-page article which is highly critical of American attitudes towards children. The newsletter is just one of many activities being conducted under the auspices of the "International Year of the Child." This special celebration and focus on the needs of the world's children was declared in a proclamation by the U.N. General Assembly last year. To sponsor special activities in the United States, President Carter created a national commission and appointed Jean Young, wife of his U.N. ambassador, to chair that commission. On the surface, it would appear almost callous to criticize an effort designed to focus on the concerns involving the well-being of the world's children. But unfortunately, as the newsletter indicates, the "International Year of the Child" is being used as a platform to advance a particular ideology. Not only have the Russians seized upon the "International Year of the Child" to score propaganda points, but here at home, many liberal activists are using the U.N. proclamation as a moral mandate for new Big Government programs such as compulsory national health insurance and federally-funded day care centers. I wonder how many people have actually read the U. N. proclamation--which the United States agreed to--proclaiming 1979 as the "International Year of the Child." Some of the provisions are innocuous enough, such as this one--"the child shall enjoy the right to affection, love and understanding." There's nothing new for most parents there. But in the very next clause the tone of the proclamation shifts radically--"the child shall have the right to adequate nutrition and medical care, including pre-natal and postnatal care, to child and mother." Of course, we want our children to have those things, and American society has done better than all others in providing for its children. But to speak of necessities such as medical care as "rights" is to adopt a familiar code-word. To say that medical care is a right is to say that it is the job of government-- rather than individuals and families--to provide it. By the time the "International Year of the Child" is over, American taxpayers will have contributed more than $2 million to the national commission headed by Mrs. Young. According to a budget released by the commission, most of the money will be used to pay the salaries of its staff and university professors it has hired as consultants. What will we get for our money? Probably little more than a lecture on the virtues of new federal programs which are supposedly indispensable to the well-being of our children. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 79-11-A4 Production Date 07/27/1979 Book/Page Online PDF Audio Youtube? No
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