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After the Second World War, in 1946 a year after the United Nations was formed and it was recommended to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that the Declaration of Geneva be revived to "bind the people of the world today as firmly as it did in 1924. In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly. approved the adoption of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1949 it drew up a preliminary draft of a new declaration of children's rights.
In 1957, the Human Rights Commission of the Economic and Social Council took up the question of adopting a Declaration of the rights of the Child which would tie in with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Commission then redrafted the declaration and on October 19th, 1959, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (the Social. Humanitarian and Cultural Committee) approved this revised draft.
On 20th November, 1959, the General Assembly with representatives of 78 countries meeting in plenary session-adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child unanimously.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Whereas the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguard and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth. Whereas the need for such special safeguards has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of Rights of the Child and in the statutes of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children.
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Participants