About Course
Parents take care of us before we can take care of ourselves. While many people share in shaping a child’s moral character and the adults they become – from teachers and coaches to spiritual mentors, extended family, and others – parents have the primary responsibility. That’s why parents have the right, enshrined in international human rights law, to direct the education and upbringing of their children – in accordance with their own convictions.
However, today’s world likes to think children belong to the state, which has ultimate authority. Sometimes, tragically, parents fail at providing their children’s most basic needs. When that happens, the government plays an important role. But absent situations where intervention is required, the state should never replace parents.
In reality, parental rights are under attack from the agendas taking over various institutions, such as schools, child protection agencies, etc. Increasingly, these threats are targeting a parent’s right to physically protect their child from harm. This has hardly ever been clearer than in the field of gender “transition” of children and adolescents.
Despite robust protections in international, regional, and domestic laws, across the globe, courts and legislatures often have failed to protect parental rights from government interference.
Highlighting some recent cases involving “transgender” children and youth, the session focuses on the defense of the fundamental rights of parents and the best interest of the child, including the following questions:
- What are the current frontiers and what laws most impact parental rights in this area?
- How can parental rights be secured and expanded at the national level?
- How can states be held accountable for their obligations to protect parental rights?
- How can parents stay on top of and halt the promotion of inappropriate “sexuality education” and other radical agendas at the national and international level that harm children?
- What are crucial parental consent protections when it comes to children’s medical decisions, including in the area of gender “transition”, and how can they be upheld?
