UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989, and was ratified by 193 different countries across the world, making it one of the most universally ratified human rights treaties in history. Moreover, by the CRC’s 20-year anniversary in 2009, the United States and Somalia were the only two countries in the United Nations to not ratify the treaty. The CRC was the first binding document in international law to guarantee the rights of children.

The initial idea for the CRC was proposed by Poland in 1978 to the UN Economic and Social Council. Poland had supported the idea for a convention since 1959 when the UN passed the Declaration of the ...