Children's rights movement
It began in the early part of the last century and has been an effort by government organizations, advocacy groups, academics, lawyers, lawmakers, and judges to construct a system of laws and policies that enhance and protect the lives of children.
[4] With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, children as young as six began to be employed in the factories and coal mines in often inhumane conditions with long hours and little pay.
The terrible conditions of the poor urban children was exposed to liberal middle-class opinion, notably by the author Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist.
An influential social reformer was Mary Carpenter, who campaigned on behalf of neglected children who had turned to juvenile delinquency.
It managed to pass one law, which was struck down by the Supreme Court two years later for violating a child's right to contract his work.
It took the Great Depression to end child labor nationwide; adults had become so desperate for jobs that they would work for the same wage as children.
[12] The first formal charter to set out the rights of children was drafted by British social reformer Eglantyne Jebb in 1923.
[14] Her experiences there and later in Russia, led her to believe that the rights of a child needed be especially protected and enforced, and her stipulations consisted of the following criteria: This manifesto was adopted by the International Save the Children Union and endorsed by the League of Nations General Assembly in 1924 as the World Child Welfare Charter.
[15] In 1925, the first International Child Welfare Congress was held in Geneva, where the Declaration was widely discussed and supported by organisations and governments.
The SCIU also pressed the newly formed United Nations in 1946 to adopt the World Child Welfare Charter.
This was achieved in 1959, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted an expanded version as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
[16] Its main provisions are: From the formation of the United Nations to the present day, the Children's Rights Movement has become global in focus.
Children around the world still suffer from forced child labor, genital mutilation, military service, and sex trafficking.
In 2005, in order to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, national Law for the Integral Protection of Children and Adolescents was enacted.
[18] Brazil is a founding member of the UN and a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by General Assembly resolution in 1948.
The Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child emphasizes that motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and that children born out of wedlock are allowed the same social protection.
[21] A longstanding movement promoting youth rights in the United States has made substantial gains in the past.
[25] Russian Federation, Ms. Kristina Sukacheva (Introduced L.57- L.64) Tasked with introducing the Convention language on parental rights, Russia ominously noted that governments voting against parents "deliberately shirk their international responsibilities to provide for the rights of the child".
[27] Presently, there are at least thirty countries that have some kind of non-adult structure of parliament, whether nationally or in cities, villages or schools.
