A Declaration for Childkind
MyDeclaration In our founding era, our nation’s youth often were front and center in the Revolutionary war effort. They even put themselves in harm’s way to enlist and serve as soldiers, most often, as drummers in the thick of battle, helping convey critical signals to American troops that could prove decisive. Yet our youngest are rarely part of […]
Declaration of Dependence by the Children of America in Mines and Factories and Workshops Assembled (ca. 1910)
Editor’s Note: Journalist, Presbyterian minister and child labor advocate Alexander J. McKelway (1866-1918), who was instrumental in early efforts to enact legislation to address child labor reform, crafted this concise “declaration of dependence” — really a declaration of children’s rights — sometime between 1910 and 1913, though he claims its true authors are all of America’s […]
Declaration of Montréal on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Human Rights (2006)
Editor’s Note: This declaration was approved on July 29, 2006 at the International Conference, the largest ever gathering, on LGBT Human Rights in Montreal. It is described by organizers as a conference “attended by 1500 people from more than hundred countries in the world.” The declaration itself “was drafted by the Co-Presidents of the Conference…and unanimously […]
Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty — Nyéléni, Mali, 2007
Editor’s Note: This declaration, the outcome of a forum made up of a global network of grassroots activists dedicated to advancing the rights of peoples to determine for themselves food and agricultural policy across the entire network of food production. DECLARATION OF NYÉLÉNI, 27 February 2007, Nyéléni Village, Sélingué, Mali Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty We, more […]
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2009)
Editor’s Note: On September 13, 2007, this ground-breaking declaration was approved by the UN General Assembly, with 144 states voting in favor, with four — the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia, which have large indigenous populations — voting against, and with 11 states abstaining. Australia endorsed the document, which is not legally binding, on […]
Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1928
Editor’s Note: A precursor to the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, this 1928 document was adapted by the members of the League of Nations. It is unprecedented in that it sets forth for the first time in a formal international accord that children have rights and that adults have responsibilities towards assuring […]
Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans: Whales and Dolphins (2010)
Editor’s Note: This declaration, which spells out what it maintains should be the legal rights under international law of whales and dolphins, is a product of the Helsinki Group, formed, as the website issuing the document says, “out of the ‘Cetacean Rights: Fostering Moral and Legal Change Conference,’ held in Helsinki, Finland in May 2010, […]
‘Declarations of our humble opinion respecting the most essential rights and liberties of the colonists’ (Declaration of Rights of Stamp Act Congress) — Declaration of Rights and Grievances, October 19, 1765
Editor’s Note: These resolutions are described by the First Continental Congress as tantamount to “declarations of our humble opinion, respecting the most essential rights and liberties Of the colonists, and of the grievances under which they labour, by reason of several late Acts of Parliament.” The aim is “to procure the repeal of the Act […]
Declaration of Rights and Grievances, October 14, 1774
Editor’s Note: Well over a year and a half before our July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was issued, our First Continental Congress came out with a declaration — of rights and grievances — that was prepared and sent to King George III in England, where it promptly fell upon deaf ears, and as a […]
Declaration of Food Sovereignty – Sedgewick, Maine (2011)
Editor’s Note: In March 2011, the Maine town of Sedgewick became the first of four municipalities to pass an ordinance that effectively amounted to a declaration of food sovereignty, one that effectively gives them the right to “a local food system” food that’s sustainable, organic, local; that promotes self-reliance; and that provides an alternative to […]
