A FALSE ALARM

Re: Ruling against drug searches undermines school authority, May 15.

Letter-writer Graham Barnes is raising a false alarm about the
"undermining" of school authority. I can not agree with his
suggestion that a school's authority should supersede any judicial
authority, much less that of the Ontario Court of Appeals.

Mr. Barnes also suggests that this ruling sets a dangerous precedent
that might ultimately lead to a court ruling in favour of protecting
the privacy rights of children in their own homes. Those rights were
established almost 60 years ago by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which refers to the "equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family," not just adult members, and reaffirms
this repeatedly.

Article 2 stipulates that everyone -- not just adults -- is "entitled
to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration."

Article 3 stipulates that everyone, not just adults, has the right to
security of person, a right that forms the fundamental protection
against invasion of privacy, along with Article 12, which stipulates
that everyone, not just adults, has the right to be free from
"arbitrary interference with his privacy."

Finally, Article 7 stipulates that all are equal before the law; not
that children are less equal.

George Kosinski,

Gibsons, B.C.