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Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1924

During its fifth annual assembly in 1924, the League of Nations (the intergovernmental organization established by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, primarily to keep peace after World War I) unanimously adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, better known as the Declaration of Geneva. This entry examines the Declaration’s mandate, history, and the basis upon which it has often been critiqued.

Key Mandate

The Declaration is considered one of the first global human rights instruments in general, targeting children in particular. However, as becomes clear from the Declaration’s short preamble and five general principles, it differs in both approach and legal force from most human rights treaties that followed. As stated in the Geneva Declaration:

By the present Declaration of the Rights of the Child, ...

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