United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

Children’s rights are a “slogan in search of a definition.” That is what Hillary Rodham (later Clinton) wrote in 1973. With the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) adopted on November 1, 1989, the UN General Assembly and the drafters of the convention made a significant leap in defining the human rights of children and adolescents. Until then, international efforts to protect children and their rights had been reflected in only two international documents—(1) the League of Nations 1924 Declaration on the Rights of the Child and (2) the UN 1959 Declaration on the Rights of the Child. This entry explains the basic features of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and describes its drafting history ...

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