Appendix: Time Line of Children’s Rights

• DOI: 10.1177/0002716210386336
• Published date: 01 January 2011
• Date: 01 January 2011
• Subject Matter: Articles

Appendix
1919. The League of Nations establishes the
Committee for the Protection of Children.
1924. The League of Nations adopts the Dec-
laration of the Rights of the Child. The declara-
tion addresses a child’s right (regardless of race,
nationality, or creed) to survival, nutrition, shelter,
health care, humanitarian relief, protection from
exploitation, and the right to grow up in an envi-
Time Line
ronment that fosters their development.
of Children’s 1946. The UN General Assembly creates
UNICEF, expressly for addressing and alleviat-
Rights
ing the needs of children whom World War II
affected.
1948. The UN General Assembly adopts the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Although the declaration does not directly out-
line children’s rights, these rights implicitly
apply to children.
1959. The UN General Assembly unanimously
endorses the Declaration of the Rights of the
Child. This document builds upon the provi-
sions in the 1924 declaration, adding provisions
regarding a child’s right to an identity, family,
education, and freedom from discrimination.
1978. The Polish government drafts the pre-
cursory text for what eventually becomes the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
1979. The UN General Assembly proclaims
1979 as the International Year of the Child. The
UN Commission on Human Rights establishes
a working group to review and further build on
the child rights treaty that the Polish govern-
ment created.
1979–1989. Governmental representatives
and NGOs work to draft the CRC. U.S. delegates
DOI: 10.1177/0002716210386336
ANNALS, AAPSS, 633, January 2011
263

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THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
insert provisions regarding a child’s right to freedom of thought, speech, associa-
tion, religion, and privacy at the request of President Reagan’s administration.
1989. The UN General Assembly unanimously adopts the CRC.
1990. The CRC...