Positive Rights and Fundamental Conflicts Untied States and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1989 and the United States of America has refrained from its ratification until now. The present article is trying to provide an answer to the question why the United States of America has not ratified the Convention? In seeking the reason of this issue, which is neglected in Persian sources, foreign articles and American politicians' statements were considered. Thereafter, in studying the reasoning of the opponents, their justification was examined from a legal perspective. In conclusion, amongst the issues mentioned, namely, Parental rights and authority, Abortion, Children rights and fundamental freedoms, the conflict between the Convention provisions and the Constitution or state statutes and positive/negative Rights, the latter was deemed as the strongest. Finally, this article tries to indicate the point that, the main reason of US non-ratification, is not issues of family rights or abortion but, the positive rights literature in the convention of the rights of the child. Since all other reasons could be bypassed by considering the Convention non-self-executing as a whole, yet positive rights issue conflicts with the foundation of American understanding of “Right”.