“Complete human being”: Rita Levi Montalcini 1909-2012

Costantino Ceoldo’s “Homage to Rita Levi Montalcini” 
Editing by Carolyn Bennett

Notes on a life worth remembering

She has been described as having had “first class intelligence: polished, precise, curious, as feminist avant la lettre, always opposed to obsolete social conventions; never believing in the division of genders ─ only in the equality of their capacities.” She abandoned religion and embraced atheism; devoted herself to scientific research and discovery, renounced marriage for science.

Rita Levi Montalcini was born in Turin, Italy, in the spring and died in Rome in winter. She was a relentless discoverer and researcher in science, a recipient of major awards in her field. She is said to have had a scientific sensibility “combined with humanity and respect for others.”

Her studies in the 1950s led her to discover (with her student and assistant, also a biochemist, Stanley Cohen) “that the growth and differentiation of sensory and sympathetic nerve cells is due to a specific protein: Nerve Growth Factor,” a finding that disputed an earlier notion that “the nervous system is static, genetically programmed by genes to be immutable.” Thirty years later, she accepted the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

 In the 1960s and 1970s, she directed the Research Center of Neurobiology (Rome, 1961-1969) and the Laboratory of Cellular Biology (1969-1978); she became the tenth woman elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1968). In 1983, Columbia University awarded her the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize.

During the course of her life, Rita Levi Montalcini pioneered in progressive and scientific campaigns including the campaign against anti-personnel mines. In the Nazi era of the 1930s and 1940s when she was forced to flee Italy then Belgium, she organized a makeshift (home) laboratory in clandestine conditions. In later years, she was a co-founder of the Italian section of Green Cross International, chaired the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia and was a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1999). In 2001, she was named Senator for Life by the Italian president of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, in recognition of her scientific and social efforts, a position that enabled her to sit in the Senate and participate in parliamentary debates. In 2002, she established the European Brain Research Institute.

An Italian (b. April 22, 1909-d. December 30, 2012) honors graduate from the Italy’s Turin Medical School, University of Turin, a medical researcher and teacher at Washington University in St. Louis (United States), Neurophysiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini traveled regularly between North America and Europe. Her major awards included the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine (1986), the United States’ highest scientific honor, the National Medal of Science (1987); the degree Honoris Causa in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin (2006) and the Ph.D. Honoris Causa (honorary doctorate) from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (2008).

Some of her books are: In Praise of Imperfection: My Life and Work (Sloan Foundation science series) by Rita Levi-Montalcini and Luigi Attardi (October 1989); The Saga of the Nerve Growth Factor: Preliminary Studies, Discovery, Further Development (World Scientific Series in 20th Century Biology) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (July 1997); L'asso nella manica a brandelli (I saggi) (Italian Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1998); La science citoyenne (La Question) (French Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1994); Un universo inquieto: Vita e opere di Paola Levi Montalcini (I saggi) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (2001); The Hourglass of Life: A Nobel Laureate Reflects on Her Life by Rita Levi-Montalcini and Giuseppina Tripodi (January 27, 2010); Il tuo futuro (Italian Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1993); NGF: Apertura di una nuova frontiera nella neurobiologia (Sonde) (Italian Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1989). 

T

ogether with Italy, America may claim her: a life, a woman’s life and work, worth remembering.

 

Attributed to Rita Levi-Montalcini:

“Above all, do not fear 

difficult moments. 

The best comes from them.”

Sources and notes

“Homage to Rita Levi Montalcini” (by Costantino Ceoldo, Prepared for publication by: Lisa Karpova, Pravda.Ru, Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey), December 31, 2012, http://english.pravda.ru/society/anomal/31-12-2012/123358-rita_montalcini-0/

Copyright © 1999-2012, «PRAVDA.Ru». When reproducing our materials in whole or in part, hyperlink to PRAVDA.Ru should be made. The opinions and views of the authors do not always coincide with the point of view of PRAVDA.Ru's editors.

See also Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Levi-Montalcini

Nazi Party (by name of National Socialist German Workers' Party, German Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP:  political party of the mass movement known as National Socialism (q.v.). Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the party came to power in Germany in 1933 and governed by totalitarian methods until 1945. Britannica note

– Rita Levi-Montalcini (b. 1909), Italian scientist, 1986 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine (w/ Stanley Cohen), ritalevimontalcini.org; http://nocountryforyoungwomen.com/?s=Rita+Levi+Montalcini

Women in Health Sciences, Neurophysiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini (b. 1909), http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/bios/levi_montalcini.htm

Rita Levi-Montalcini images at: http://www.giornalettismo.com/archives/682513/rita-levi-montalcini-e-morta/6543598_small/

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Absence of discipline seeds endless violence ─ U.S. families, communities; U.S. foreign relations

 End year updates: Foreign wars in Middle East/South Central Asia, Africa; 
Excerpts from Why Americans cannot discipline their children

Editing, re-reporting, brief comment by 

Carolyn Bennett

Only America has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization

“Why Americans cannot discipline their children” and results of this failure

This is some of what John Fleming had to say.

“The American state together with private industry, especially ‘helping professions’ have usurped [parents’] authority in loco parentis, John Fleming writes, “thus empowering physicians, psychologists, judges, social workers, dentists and other health workers… ; and reducing people to parental incompetence.

The ultimate reason that Americans are unable to discipline their children is that they have no authority over them.

“American children run amok, throw tantrums in the ‘terrible twos’ and ‘fearsome fours,’ and commit indignities against their parents and maliciously disobey them … as to shock the rest of the world.”

Neglect

“Children’s actual socialization comes from the ever-present baby sitter television and from the school, neighborhood pals and their interaction at play.

Fleming laments his own observation. “Thousands of times [seeing] children crying and reaching out in misery and just begging for comfort and reassurance from their parents, who stand there helplessly as if paralyzed or moronic as to what to do; or they insensitively, without any insight, scold their offspring for being ‘cry babies.’”

Parent’s Roles

“Bewildered parents simply do not know what to do and the surfeit of advice from so-called experts, which has increased exponentially since 1945, has not at all ameliorated the problem.…”

Having “acquired a hands-off or laissez-faire creed regarding their children, … mothers and fathers …, American parents are reduced to their entertainers, meal tickets and gift givers. 

“In the United States the glorification of consumption and the warfare of status materialism see the parents constantly showering their ‘kids’ with presents ─ all too often in place of true love and affection.”

Mother scolds, Father escapes

“The mother resorts to [the shrew] and constant nagging to obtain minimal obedience from her children, while the deadbeat American husband and father emotionally abandons the family and takes little part in family life.

Parents do not guide, comfort, govern, teach, nurse, control, restrain or mentor their children, although they are fond of giving them a good teasing now and then.

U.S. homeless

American dream backfires: Absence of discipline seeds violence

“Being raised [as children] devoid of comforting, love, discipline, affection and physical caring (such as hugging, caressing, holding, breast-feeding, kissing, embracing and cuddling, of which American parents give their children so very little), Americans in their collective folly are frustrated, anxiety-ridden, insecure, enraged, angry, unhappy and selfish.

U.S.
endless violence
endless war dead

“Permissive child rearing, hardly part of a conspiracy, came into being willy-nilly, a result of purposeless historical forces, unplanned, non-divined, un-envisaged and non-teleological.

“The American ideology of wealth dating from early American history, roughly 1650, has had a secondary effect on the family that was unforeseen by “the ruling class or the ‘Founding Fathers’ or the intellectuals and illuminati or Tocqueville.”

“The ensuing hostile, violent and rancorous social scene, besides moral chaos, social disintegration, barratry [persistent incitement of litigation] and generational conflict, is remarkable for the unprecedented intensification of social conflict: … Can anyone therefore really wonder at ─

Waco

Ruby Ridge

Oklahoma City

Columbine

Virginia Tech

Aurora

Newtown?

MAJOR MASSACRES: 

U. S. VIOLENCE OVER HERE, OVER THERE

Waco 1993

WACO, TEXAS, ATTACK 1993

The Waco siege, also described as the ‘Waco massacre’ began February 28, 1993, when the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) accompanied by several members of the media, attempted to execute a search warrant at Mount Carmel Center ranch, a property of the religious sect Branch Davidians located in the community of Elk, Texas, nine miles (14 kilometers) east-northeast of Waco, Texas

The siege ended violently 50 days later on April 19, leaving 76 men, women and children dead. Among the dead was the sect leader, David Koresh

Weaver Family Home
Ruby Ridge 1992

RUBY RIDGE, IDAHO, ATTACK 1992

Randy Weaver refused to be an informant for the federal government and a deadly 1992 confrontation and siege that involved Weaver, his friend, Kevin Harris, and his family and agents of the United States Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation left Weaver's son Sammy, his wife Vicki, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Francis Dega dead at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

A 1994 Ruby Ridge Task Force report, in redacted form by Lexis Counsel Connect, raised questions about the conduct and policy of all the agencies involved in the Ruby Ridge, Idaho, attack: the FBI, USMS, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for Idaho.

What had prompted the investigation and report was Weaver's attorney Gerry Spence's accusations of "criminal wrongdoing" against every agency involved in the incident.

OKLAHOMA BOMBING 1995

The Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by Timothy McVeigh, an American militia movement sympathizer and Gulf War veteran, who detonated an explosive-filled Ryder rental truck parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. He was assisted in bomb preparation by co-conspirator Terry Nichols.

Virginia Tech
Faculty dead 1999

The bomb caused the deaths of 168 people among them 19 children, injuries to more than 680 people; and the destruction of or damage to hundreds of real estate and other material possessions.

  

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING 1999

At Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire and 12 students and a teacher died in addition to the suicides of the assailants. Twenty-four others were injured.

In this April 20, 1999, incident, Harris and Klebold had reportedly started their rage in violence by planting two unexploded bombs in the school cafeteria; they then opened fire on the school population.

VIRGINIA TECH (COLLEGE) SHOOTING 2007

On the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia), shootings by Seung-Hui Cho, a student with a mental disorder, left 32 people (plus the suicide of the shooter) dead and 17 wounded. Others were injured trying to escape through the classroom windows. 

A funeral
Aurora 2012

COLORADO CINEMA SHOOTING 2012

During a July 20, 2012, midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman dressed in tactical clothing sets off tear gas canisters and opens fire on the audience leaving 12 people dead and 58 injured. James Eagan Holmes is arrested.

Colorado gun sales spiked after the shooting; the number of background checks for people seeking to purchase a firearm in this state increased to 2,887, up 43 percent from the week before the incident. Gun sales increased in Washington, Florida, California, and Georgia as did political debates on gun control but a Pew Research Center survey suggested the incident had not changed Americans' views on the issue.

A funeral
Newtown 2012

CONNECTICUT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING 2012

At Newtown, Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, a murder suicide occurred that left two people wounded and twenty children, six adult staff members plus the shooter, 20-year-old Adam Peter Lanza, dead.

END YEAR Miami Herald reports “2012’s top news: shootings, Hurricane Sandy, election and more”

Mass shootings: At a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20, a gunman opened fire on a theater full of moviegoers in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring almost 60 others. Arrested and charged with the crime is James Eagan Holmes, who is awaiting trial. But Eagan’s act of terror was not to be the only one of 2012. On Dec. 14, Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and killed 20 children and six adults. Lanza, who died after shooting himself, killed his mother, a Sandy Hook teacher, before his rampage. The horrific attacks propelled the arguments for and against gun control to the forefront of American debate.  Miami Herald December 29, 2012, http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/29/3160550/2012s-top-news-shootings-hurricane.html

Major massacres abroad

Unchecked U.S. WAR, DEATH: 

Endless aggression

I-casualties reports

Coalition Military Fatalities by Year - Afghanistan

Year	US	UK	Other	Total
2001	12	0	0	12
2002	49	3	18	70
2003	48	0	10	58
2004	52	1	7	60
2005	99	1	31	131
2006	98	39	54	191
2007	117	42	73	232
2008	155	51	89	295
2009	317	108	96	521
2010	499	103	109	711
2011	418	46	102	566
2012	309	44	52	405
Total	2173	438	641	3252

http://icasualties.org/oef/

U.S. war
Afghan funeral

Press TV’s recent reports

AFGHANISTAN

The US-led war in Afghanistan, which has caused record-high civilian and military casualties, has become the longest military conflict in the American history.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country despite the presence of thousands of US-led soldiers.

Afghan homeless

Today in Afghanistan at least nine NATO fuel tankers were torched after a powerful bomb explosion rocked Jalalabad Airport in country's eastern province of Nangarhar Press TV reports. The incident occurred when a bomb planted in a fuel tanker detonated in a terminal near the airport, where NATO oil tankers were parked. http://www.presstv.ir/section/351020403.html

PAKISTAN

A recent report revealed that over 3,300 people, many of them women and children, were killed in U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan between June 2004 and September 2012.

U.S. drone
warfare on Pakistan

The United States also carries out drone strikes in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Late last week four people died in another U.S. assassination drone attack in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border. The strike occurred on Thursday when missiles fired from U.S. drones hit a house in the town of Gurbuz, which lies southwest of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district. Two other people suffered injuries in Thursday's attack. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/28/280570/us-drone-attack-kills-four-in-pakistan/

Yemenis protest
U.S. drone warfare
Breach of sovereignty

YEMEN

The United Nations has censured the U.S. drone attacks as targeted killings, stressing that the raids flout international law. Reports, however, say that the CIA is seeking to expand its covert drone attacks in Yemen.

On Friday Tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in the northern city of Sa’ada to protest U.S. interference in their country’s internal affairs. The demonstrators accused the United States of hijacking their revolution by keeping in power some of the loyalists to the ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh and granting the former ruler immunity under a power transition deal.  http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/28/280612/yemenis-rally-against-us-interference/

SYRIA

Pro-Assad rally
Syria

Officials at the Syrian capital Damascus have repeatedly charged that outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving element behind the unrest and deadly violence. Since March 2011, Syria has been experiencing unrest. The Syrian government most recently has said the chaos in Syria is being orchestrated from outside the country and there are reports that a very large number of armed militants fighting the Syrian government are foreign nationals.

Today the U.S.-based historian Webster Griffin Tarpley tells Press TV, “If the Free Syrian Army, particularly if [Syria’s militia group Jabhat] al-Nusra gang of death squads should ever gain power over Syria or large parts of Syria, we would witness a colossal bloodbath” exceeding any in the current century. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/30/280890/bloodbath-awaits-syria-under-militants/

AFRICA

The U.S. military and its main spy agency, the CIA, have regularly been involved in using pilotless assassination drones to bombard alleged al-Qaeda suspects and strongholds in Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan. Most of those killed by American terror drones, however, have reportedly been civilians.

The U.S. military has set up a plan to deploy troops and spies to African nations in a purported bid to counter what it describes as ‘a growing terrorist threat’ by the shadowy, Saudi-linked al-Qaeda terror franchise.

U.S. drone attacks
Somalis

“Nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers from the Army’s Dagger Brigade are due to be dispatched ‘throughout Africa’ in ‘small teams’ beginning next spring to ‘train African troops on everything from logistics and marksmanship to medical care,’ major U.S. government-funded radio network NPR reports in a Tuesday broadcast.” The report also notes that “‘the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is already placing more of its military spies in Africa.’”

Returning to Fleming’s theme, perhaps another truth is that children, the young really are obeying their parents. They are following their example of violence ─ as the first response, always, anywhere, any situation, any time. 

Sources and notes

“Why Americans cannot discipline their children” (John Fleming) December 21, 2012,

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/21-12-2012/123261-americans_children-0/#

Quoted by Fleming: “America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization” ─ Georges Clemenceau (ca. 1925)

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/21-12-2012/123261-americans_children-0/#

John Fleming is the author of the book Word Power

Press TV online news 

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy


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Convention on Rights of the Child “cares” 29 times, U.S. nil

The United States of America refuses to join States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child so why would anyone believe U.S. government officials' public emoting after the most recent domestic tragedy?  I don’t.

Re-reporting, editing, commentary by 

Carolyn Bennett

In today’s news reports, The United States remains one of only three United Nations Member States (the others Somalia and South Sudan) that have failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Public Interest and Human Rights Attorney Roy Morris said in a Press TV interview: The United States “as a matter of law still treats children as property.…

There’s no place to go:  you can’t even go to a federal court; the federal courts in the United States don’t want to deal with this issue.

Morris poses a critical question: “If the United States does not want to answer to the international community, how can it expect other countries of the world to answer to the international community?”

The United States, he says, “cannot hold the moral high ground if it does not want to ratify treaties like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” [Note: the United States recently dug in on its refusal to sign the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons].

I

 was curious about how often the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child mentions “care.” 

I found 29 times. Here is some of the context of the Convention’s concern ─ and the United States’ unconcern ─ with care. 

Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
1947

Preamble Paragraph 3

“Recalling that, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance,

Preamble Paragraph 8

Bearing in mind that the need to extend particular care to the child has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1959 and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular in articles 23 and 24), in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in particular in article 10) and in the statutes and relevant instruments of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children,

Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, ‘the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth,’ …

Have agreed as follows: …

Article 3

1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.

3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.

Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

 Article 18

2. For the purpose of guaranteeing and promoting the rights set forth in the present Convention, States Parties shall render appropriate assistance to parents and legal guardians in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities and shall ensure the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children.

3. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and facilities for which they are eligible.

Article 19

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child. 

Article 20

1. A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State.

 

2. States Parties shall in accordance with their national laws ensure alternative care for such a child.

3. Such care could include, inter alia, foster placement, kafalah of Islamic law, adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children. When considering solutions, due regard shall be paid to the desirability of continuity in a child’s upbringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.

Article 21

(b) Recognize that inter-country adoption may be considered as an alternative means of child’s care, if the child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the child’s country of origin;

Article 23

2. States Parties recognize the right of the disabled child to special care and shall encourage and ensure the extension, subject to available resources, to the eligible child and those responsible for his or her care, of assistance for which application is made and which is appropriate to the child’s condition and to the circumstances of the parents or others caring for the child.

3. Recognizing the special needs of a disabled child, assistance extended in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article shall be provided free of charge, whenever possible, taking into account the financial resources of the parents or others caring for the child, and shall be designed to ensure that the disabled child has effective access to and receives education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child’s achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development

4. States Parties shall promote, in the spirit of international cooperation, the exchange of appropriate information in the field of preventive health care and of medical, psychological and functional treatment of disabled children, including dissemination of and access to information concerning methods of rehabilitation, education and vocational services, with the aim of enabling States Parties to improve their capabilities and skills and to widen their experience in these areas. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Article 24

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.

2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:

(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;

(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;

(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;

(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;

(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;

(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.

3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.

4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international cooperation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Article 25

States Parties recognize the right of a child who has been placed by the competent authorities for the purposes of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical or mental health, to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement.

Article 38

4. In accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.

Article 40

4. A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counseling; probation; foster care; education and vocational training programs and other alternatives to institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offense.

(b) Whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing with such children without resorting to judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected.

T

he day before Human Rights Day University of Nebraska (Lincoln) political science professor Courtney Hillebrecht was published in the Journal Star. In her Local View article “Why treaty on rights of disabled matters,” this is some of what she wrote.

“There are well over 100 international human rights treaties and countless other domestic laws that codify the principles espoused in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In many ways the development of international and domestic human rights law reflects tremendous progress in the protection of human dignity. These treaties and laws serve as benchmarks against which citizens, allies and international organizations evaluate countries’ human rights performances.

“The notion of human rights has become so powerful that even the most egregious violators pay lip service to the idea of human rights. Some even ratify human rights treaties. The United States is a major exception to this trend of the international legalization of human rights.

“Despite Eleanor Roosevelt’s key role in developing the UDHR (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and the United States’ long history of advocating for and protecting human rights at home and abroad, the United States has not ratified many — indeed most — international human rights treaties.

Of the nine core United Nations human rights treaties, the United States has ratified only three: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture.

The first week in December, she recounts, “The U.S. Senate failed to pass a resolution giving consent for the United States to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The convention gained 61 supporting votes but was six votes shy of the needed two-thirds majority.

“According to the United States International Council on Disabilities, the convention had support of more than 300 disability groups and 21 veteran organizations. The convention also garnered support from all Democratic and Independent senators and eight prominent Republicans.

“Critics of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, much like critics of other international human rights treaties, argued that the convention violated the United States’ sovereignty and would interfere in domestic politics.

“In reality, however, U.S. policy is consistent with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Ratification would have little, if any, effect on domestic laws or policies.

“If that is the case, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would have little discernible effect on U.S. policy, why does it matter that the United States has not ratified this Convention or other human rights treaties?

“The answer to this question is two-fold,” Hillebrecht wrote.

First, ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a way of showing support for the disabled and veteran communities here at home.

Second, by promoting international human rights treaties, the United States can help strengthen the international legal and normative framework for human rights and help make human rights achievable for all people around the globe.

On the evidence of their actions, not mere oratory, decide for yourselves whether U.S. government officials are in the least bit concerned with universal human rights of or even U.S. constitutional guarantees for children or anyone else. 

Sources and notes

U

.S. on wrong side of history

Convention on the Rights of the Child States Parties

December 2012 update

Participant Signature Ratification, Acceptance(A), Accession(a), Succession(d) Afghanistan 27 Sep 1990 28 Mar 1994 Albania 26 Jan 1990 27 Feb 1992 Algeria 26 Jan 1990 16 Apr 1993 Andorra 2 Oct 1995 2 Jan 1996 Angola 14 Feb 1990 5 Dec 1990 Antigua and Barbuda 12 Mar 1991 5 Oct 1993 Argentina 29 Jun 1990 4 Dec 1990 Armenia 23 Jun 1993 a Australia 22 Aug 1990 17 Dec 1990 Austria 26 Aug 1990 6 Aug 1992 Azerbaijan 13 Aug 1992 a Bahamas 30 Oct 1990 20 Feb 1991 Bahrain 13 Feb 1992 a Bangladesh 26 Jan 1990 3 Aug 1990 Barbados 19 Apr 1990 9 Oct 1990 Belarus 26 Jan 1990 1 Oct 1990 Belgium 26 Jan 1990 16 Dec 1991 Belize 2 Mar 1990 2 May 1990 Benin 25 Apr 1990 3 Aug 1990 Bhutan 4 Jun 1990 1 Aug 1990 Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 8 Mar 1990 26 Jun 1990 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 1 Sep 1993 d Botswana 14 Mar 1995 a Brazil 26 Jan 1990 24 Sep 1990 Brunei Darussalam 27 Dec 1995 a Bulgaria 31 May 1990 3 Jun 1991 Burkina Faso 26 Jan 1990 31 Aug 1990 Burundi 8 May 1990 19 Oct 1990 Cambodia 15 Oct 1992 a Cameroon 25 Sep 1990 11 Jan 1993 Canada 28 May 1990 13 Dec 1991 Cape Verde 4 Jun 1992 a Central African Republic 30 Jul 1990 23 Apr 1992 Chad 30 Sep 1990 2 Oct 1990 Chile 26 Jan 1990 13 Aug 1990 China 4, 5 29 Aug 1990 2 Mar 1992 Colombia 26 Jan 1990 28 Jan 1991 Comoros 30 Sep 1990 22 Jun 1993 Congo 14 Oct 1993 a Cook Islands 6 Jun 1997 a Costa Rica 26 Jan 1990 21 Aug 1990 Côte d'Ivoire 26 Jan 1990 4 Feb 1991 Croatia 3 12 Oct 1992 d Cuba 26 Jan 1990 21 Aug 1991 Cyprus 5 Oct 1990 7 Feb 1991 Czech Republic 6 22 Feb 1993 d Democratic People's Republic of Korea 23 Aug 1990 21 Sep 1990 Democratic Republic of the Congo 20 Mar 1990 27 Sep 1990 Denmark 7 26 Jan 1990 19 Jul 1991 Djibouti 30 Sep 1990 6 Dec 1990 Dominica 26 Jan 1990 13 Mar 1991 Dominican Republic 8 Aug 1990 11 Jun 1991 Ecuador 26 Jan 1990 23 Mar 1990 Egypt 8 5 Feb 1990 6 Jul 1990 El Salvador 26 Jan 1990 10 Jul 1990 Equatorial Guinea 15 Jun 1992 a Eritrea 20 Dec 1993 3 Aug 1994 Estonia 21 Oct 1991 a Ethiopia 14 May 1991 a Fiji 2 Jul 1993 13 Aug 1993 Finland 26 Jan 1990 20 Jun 1991 France 26 Jan 1990 7 Aug 1990 Gabon 26 Jan 1990 9 Feb 1994 Gambia 5 Feb 1990 8 Aug 1990 Georgia 2 Jun 1994 a Germany 9 26 Jan 1990 6 Mar 1992 Ghana 29 Jan 1990 5 Feb 1990 Greece 26 Jan 1990 11 May 1993 Grenada 21 Feb 1990 5 Nov 1990 Guatemala 26 Jan 1990 6 Jun 1990 Guinea 13 Jul 1990 a Guinea-Bissau 26 Jan 1990 20 Aug 1990 Guyana 30 Sep 1990 14 Jan 1991 Haiti 26 Jan 1990 8 Jun 1995 Holy See 20 Apr 1990 20 Apr 1990 Honduras 31 May 1990 10 Aug 1990 Hungary 14 Mar 1990 7 Oct 1991 Iceland 26 Jan 1990 28 Oct 1992 India 11 Dec 1992 a Indonesia 26 Jan 1990 5 Sep 1990 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 5 Sep 1991 13 Jul 1994 Iraq 15 Jun 1994 a Ireland 30 Sep 1990 28 Sep 1992 Israel 3 Jul 1990 3 Oct 1991 Italy 26 Jan 1990 5 Sep 1991 Jamaica 26 Jan 1990 14 May 1991 Japan 21 Sep 1990 22 Apr 1994 Jordan 29 Aug 1990 24 May 1991 Kazakhstan 16 Feb 1994 12 Aug 1994 Kenya 26 Jan 1990 30 Jul 1990 Kiribati 11 Dec 1995 a Kuwait 7 Jun 1990 21 Oct 1991 Kyrgyzstan 7 Oct 1994 a Lao People's Democratic Republic 8 May 1991 a Latvia 14 Apr 1992 a Lebanon 26 Jan 1990 14 May 1991 Lesotho 21 Aug 1990 10 Mar 1992 Liberia 26 Apr 1990 4 Jun 1993 Libya 15 Apr 1993 a Liechtenstein 10 30 Sep 1990 22 Dec 1995 Lithuania 31 Jan 1992 a Luxembourg 21 Mar 1990 7 Mar 1994 Madagascar 19 Apr 1990 19 Mar 1991 Malawi 2 Jan 1991 a Malaysia 17 Feb 1995 a Maldives 21 Aug 1990 11 Feb 1991 Mali 26 Jan 1990 20 Sep 1990 Malta 26 Jan 1990 30 Sep 1990 Marshall Islands 14 Apr 1993 4 Oct 1993 Mauritania 26 Jan 1990 16 May 1991 Mauritius 26 Jul 1990 a Mexico 26 Jan 1990 21 Sep 1990 Micronesia (Federated States of) 5 May 1993 a Monaco 21 Jun 1993 a Mongolia 26 Jan 1990 5 Jul 1990 Montenegro 11 23 Oct 2006 d Morocco 26 Jan 1990 21 Jun 1993 Mozambique 30 Sep 1990 26 Apr 1994 Myanmar 15 Jul 1991 a Namibia 26 Sep 1990 30 Sep 1990 Nauru 27 Jul 1994 a Nepal 26 Jan 1990 14 Sep 1990 Netherlands 12 26 Jan 1990 6 Feb 1995 A New Zealand 13 1 Oct 1990 6 Apr 1993 Nicaragua 6 Feb 1990 5 Oct 1990 Niger 26 Jan 1990 30 Sep 1990 Nigeria 26 Jan 1990 19 Apr 1991 Niue 20 Dec 1995 a Norway 26 Jan 1990 8 Jan 1991 Oman 9 Dec 1996 a Pakistan 20 Sep 1990 12 Nov 1990 Palau 4 Aug 1995 a Panama 26 Jan 1990 12 Dec 1990 Papua New Guinea 30 Sep 1990 2 Mar 1993 Paraguay 4 Apr 1990 25 Sep 1990 Peru 26 Jan 1990 4 Sep 1990 Philippines 26 Jan 1990 21 Aug 1990 Poland 26 Jan 1990 7 Jun 1991 Portugal 4 26 Jan 1990 21 Sep 1990 Qatar 8 Dec 1992 3 Apr 1995 Republic of Korea 25 Sep 1990 20 Nov 1991 Republic of Moldova 26 Jan 1993 a Romania 26 Jan 1990 28 Sep 1990 Russian Federation 26 Jan 1990 16 Aug 1990 Rwanda 26 Jan 1990 24 Jan 1991 Samoa 30 Sep 1990 29 Nov 1994 San Marino 25 Nov 1991 a Sao Tome and Principe 14 May 1991 a Saudi Arabia 26 Jan 1996 a Senegal 26 Jan 1990 31 Jul 1990 Serbia 3 12 Mar 2001 d Seychelles 7 Sep 1990 a Sierra Leone 13 Feb 1990 18 Jun 1990 Singapore 5 Oct 1995 a Slovakia 6 28 May 1993 d Slovenia 3 6 Jul 1992 d Solomon Islands 10 Apr 1995 a Somalia 9 May 2002 South Africa 29 Jan 1993 16 Jun 1995 Spain 26 Jan 1990 6 Dec 1990 Sri Lanka 26 Jan 1990 12 Jul 1991 St. Kitts and Nevis 26 Jan 1990 24 Jul 1990 St. Lucia 30 Sep 1990 16 Jun 1993 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 20 Sep 1993 26 Oct 1993 Sudan 24 Jul 1990 3 Aug 1990 Suriname 26 Jan 1990 1 Mar 1993 Swaziland 22 Aug 1990 7 Sep 1995 Sweden 26 Jan 1990 29 Jun 1990 Switzerland 1 May 1991 24 Feb 1997 Syrian Arab Republic 18 Sep 1990 15 Jul 1993 Tajikistan 26 Oct 1993 a Thailand 27 Mar 1992 a The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 3, 14 2 Dec 1993 d Timor-Leste 16 Apr 2003 a Togo 26 Jan 1990 1 Aug 1990 Tonga 6 Nov 1995 a Trinidad and Tobago 30 Sep 1990 5 Dec 1991 Tunisia 26 Feb 1990 30 Jan 1992 Turkey 14 Sep 1990 4 Apr 1995 Turkmenistan 20 Sep 1993 a Tuvalu 22 Sep 1995 a Uganda 17 Aug 1990 17 Aug 1990 Ukraine 21 Feb 1990 28 Aug 1991 United Arab Emirates 3 Jan 1997 a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 5, 15 19 Apr 1990 16 Dec 1991 United Republic of Tanzania 1 Jun 1990 10 Jun 1991 United States of America 16 Feb 1995 Uruguay 26 Jan 1990 20 Nov 1990 Uzbekistan 29 Jun 1994 a Vanuatu 30 Sep 1990 7 Jul 1993 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 26 Jan 1990 13 Sep 1990 Viet Nam 26 Jan 1990 28 Feb 1990 Yemen 16 13 Feb 1990 1 May 1991 Zambia 30 Sep 1990 6 Dec 1991 Zimbabwe 8 Mar 1990 11 Sep 1990

http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en

Convention on the Rights of the Child [54 articles], Text in PDF Format, Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, Proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 3447 (XXX) of 9 December 1975, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/res3447.htm

“United States fails to ratify UN Child Rights treaty,” December 19, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/19/278997/us-fails-to-ratify-uncrc-treaty/

“Despite legal protections for persons with disabilities, millions of Americans are deprived of their rights due to a lack of awareness and a failure to provide the disabled with reasonable accommodation in many areas of their lives.

“They still face considerable levels of discrimination in access to services, employment, education, and other areas.

“Today, more than 50 million people in the U.S., roughly 1 in 6, personally experience some form of disability, a number that is growing rapidly as the population ages.”

http://www.scribd.com/doc/56419346/THE-RIGHTS-OF-PERSONS-WITH-DISABILITIES-in-the-United-States

“Local View: ‘Why treaty on rights of disabled matters’” (by Courtney Hillebrecht), December 9, 2012, http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/local-view-why-treaty-on-rights-of-disabled-matters/article_a3583ca2-ad60-5513-8d04-fdcba7c89c07.html

Courtney Hillebrecht is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

  

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on December 13, 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. It was opened for signature on March 30, 2007.

The Convention had 82 signatories, 44 signatories to the Optional Protocol and 1 ratification to the Convention, the highest number of signatories in history to a UN Convention on its opening day.

 It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and is the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations. The Convention entered into force on May 3, 2008. http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=14&pid=150

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