Rights of the Child

The meaning of the child and the rights of the children

“Humanity has to do its best for the child.” Declaration of Geneva.

Definition of the child

Etymologically, the term “child” comes from the Latin infants which means ” the one who does not speak “. For the Roman, this term designates the child from its birth, up to the age of 7 years.
This notion evolved a lot through centuries and cultures to finally designate human being from birth until adulthood. But this conception of the child was wide and the age of the majority varied from a culture to an another.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 defines more precisely the term “child”:

“[…] a child is any human being below the age of eighteen years, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”

The idea, through this definition and all the texts concerning child welfare, is that the child is a human being with rights and dignity.
What characterizes the child, it is his youth and vulnerability. Indeed, the child is growing, a future adult, who has no means to protect himself.
So, the child has to be the object of a particular interest and a specific protection. In this perspective, texts proclaiming the protection of the child and his rights were adopted.

Definition of the rights of the child

The recognition of the rights of the children

Children’s rights were recognized after the 1st World war, with the adoption of the Declaration of Geneva, in 1924. The process of recognition of children’s rights continued thanks to the UN, with the adoption of the Declaration of children’s rights in 1959.
The recognition of the child’s interest and his rights becomes real on 20 November 1989 with the adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the first international legally binding text recognizing all the fundamental rights of the child.