ABSTRACT: The United States and Somalia are the only two countries in the world which have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Its status as a colony subordinated to the U.S. Congress prevents Puerto Rico from becoming a CRC signatory in its own right. The implications for children and adolescents living in the island is damaging and far-reaching. Born U.S. citizens, children in Puerto Rico are socially marginalized. The percentage of children living below the poverty line in the island is more than twice that of Mississippi - the poorest state in the US - and more than three times greater than the national rate of the United States. Like the U.S., the Puerto Rican government's policies for children and adolescents are based on protection, not rights. The inadequacy of such policies has led to one of the highest rates of teenage motherhood among U.S. jurisdictions, and one of the highest adolescent homicide rates in the world, second only to Colombia.
