So they may have a happy childhood ....

So they may have a happy childhood

So that children "may have a happy childhood" and enjoy for their own good and for the good of society certain rights and freedoms, the peoples of the United Nations, gathered at their General Assembly, proclaimed in 1959 the Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

"Mankind owes to the child the best it has to give", the Assembly said then, calling on parents and national Governments to recognize those rights for all children "without distinction or discrimination". The cornerstone of the Declaration--constructed of 10 specific principles--is the recognition that children should enjoy special protection.

Children should be given "opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means" to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially "in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity". The best interests of children should be the paramount consideration.

Once that principle is established, the Declaration recognizes each child's birth-right to a name and a nationality.

The rights to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services--particularly pre- and post-natal care--follow. Children should be "entitled to grow and develop in health" and should "enjoy the benefits of social security", it states.

Children are also entitled to education, which should be "free compulsory, at least in the elementary stage". But not all should be work. Children should also be given "full opportunity for play and recreation". Physically, mentally or socially handicapped children should be given special treatment, education and care. The role of parents is carefully outlined. The responsibility for a child's education lies in the fist place with them. Because children need love and understanding, they should, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of their parents. "A child of tender years shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, be separated from his mother", the Declaration stresses. Society has the duty to care for children without a family and for those without adequate means of support. Public assistance to large families is desirable. "The child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief", the Declaration says, specifying that children should be protected "against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation" and should not be the subject of traffic, in any form. Child labour should be banned or restricted. "The child shall not be admitted to employment before an appropriate minimum age." Children should not be allowed to do work that threatens their health, education or physical, mental or moral development. The last principle deals with protecting children "from practices which foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination". Children should be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples and peace, it says.

Thirty years after the adoption of the Declaration, its provisions have now been translated into a legally binding international instrument--the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The General Assembly is expected to adopt the Convention later this year, in a fitting tribute to the pioneering document drafted by an earlier generation.