Declaration Project

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 their ability to enjoy these rights.

 

Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child

Adopted 26 September, 1924, League of Nations

Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child

By the present Declaration of the Rights of the Child, commonly known as “Declaration of Geneva,” men and women of all nations, recognizing that mankind owes to the Child the best that it has to give, declare and accept it as their duty that, beyond and above all considerations of race, nationality or creed:

  • The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually;
  • The child that is hungry must be fed; the child that is sick must be nursed; the child that is backward must be helped; the delinquent child must be reclaimed; and the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and succored;
  • The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress;
  • The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood, and must be protected against every form of exploitation;
  • The child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of fellow men.

Source:

http://www.un-documents.net/gdrc1924.htm

Further reading:

The International Law on the Rights of the Child, Geraldine Van Bueren, The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998

Image Attribution: “Abolish child slavery” by Bain News Service photograph – Library of Congress. Reproduction number:LC-DIG-ppmsca-06591 (digital file from original photo, later scan)LC-DIG-ppmsc-00150 (digital file from original photo, earlier scan)LC-USZ62-22198 (b&w film copy neg.). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abolish_child_slavery.jpg#/media/File:Abolish_child_slavery.jpg

PD-icon.svg