Indie Toon
Children’s Day, the dawn of children’s rights
1 month and 21 days to go to enjoy kids’ smiles on Children’s Day.
In 1925 the international community held a UN summit in Geneva called the World Conference for the wellbeing of children. The meeting brought about standards to enforce support and basic rights for children covering the globe, leading to the right to education, healthcare, and protection against all forms of exploitation. Today, although not recogn...
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Engaging resources for Children’s Day
Symbols
Special symbols that represent Children’s Day
Children’s Day Color Palette
Orchid Crayola, comforting and full of love
This pink hue tone is a delightful addition to your Children’s Day color palette. With close ties to nurturing, love, and constant attention, it will provide your audience with a comforting atmosphere. Orchid Crayola also strongly associates with baby girls and the connection between mother and daughter, a fitting addition to your child-friendly designs. In addition to its purposeful role in the palette, it symbolizes jubilant new beginnings and hope, a very welcome personality to warm up your creative projects. A fun color like this deserves all the attention it can get, so making it a feature of your design will reward you with eye-catching visual communication.
Children’s Day Fonts
The origins of Children’s Day
At the turn of the 20th century, the world had become a very different place. With the industrial age feeding into two World Wars, the resulting difficulties the world faced saw dramatic increases in poverty and starvation worldwide. Desperate situations would see countless acts of exploitation from children used in conflict and industry, often used for cheap labor. Where did children fit into all this? Something had to change to give vulnerable children fundamental rights to exist and rebuild a fragile world for their own. Through this timeline, we can discover the origins of Children’s Day and the beginnings of a new world, ultimately a safer environment for children everywhere.
World War II
Use of children in the Great War and deaths of children in the Great War
In World War II the war effort on all sides would use the availability of children to their advantage. At the time there was no clear definition of a child. Children who lied about their age could join the armed forces or work in a factory and no criminal charges would be made against them or the body involved. With no protection, exploitation and barbaric violations were unfortunately a common occurrence. The Hitler youth programme was a clear violation of today’s children’s rights, taking mainly young boys out of school, some as young as 10 years old, to start a military training programme. They would be taught Nazi ideology and move on to weapons training. A more horific story was that of the Holocaust, whereby countless children were gast, along with their parents in an attempt to whipe out the jewish population.
Eglantyne Jebb
The Declaration of the Rights of Children
Eglantyne Jebb was a social reformer living in Geneva. After the dust had settled from the first World War, poverty and starvation were killing thousands of children, and the blockade, set up by the British, was stopping aid from getting to those who needed it. Eglantyne, seeing the desperate suffering of the German and Austrian children, set up the Save the Children Fund, launched in London. The organization quickly raised enough money to dispatch relief workers to affected areas in Europe. On the back of the Save the Children’s successful relief effort, she turned her gaze toward children’s rights. In 1923, having learned the importance of a plan and research approach, she drafted her first document asserting the rights of children. In 1924 the League of Nations recognized her profound work calling it the Declaration of the Rights of Children, or the Declaration of Geneva and was put in motion.
United Nations agreement
Membered states of the general assembly rise to make a stand for the welfare of children everywhere
With the end of World War II, the United Nations was brought to fruition. This meant many international laws had to be reviewed, including The Declaration of the Rights of Children, which was drafted a second time. Each of the 10 principles of the draft were now enforced by international law. To make an impact, The Declaration of the Rights of Children would need to be accepted worldwide. Therefore, all member states of the general assembly unanimously agreed to dedicate one day of the year to Children’s Day, a day in which to promote, celebrate and heighten awareness of the welfare of children around the globe.
Choosing the date for Children’s Day
Not all countries adopted the same day for Children’s Day
On November 20th, 1959, the United Nations set in motion The Declaration of the Rights of Children. Each member state would then fall in line to dedicate a day of the year to highlight its importance. The UN thought letting each country choose its own date would be satisfactory, suggesting November 20th as a starting point. However, June 1st was adopted by most communist and post-communist countries, and countries like the UK decided May was a better choice so kids could be outside for the celebrations.