Movies in November

Many good things happening in November. But here is one that might be overlooked:

Children’s day The end of WWI saw misery on a global scale. The defeated nations (Germany and Austria-Hungary) were especially hit. As usual, the most vulnerable will suffer the most and that will be the children.

This lead Eglantyne Jebb to formulate the first declaration of Children’s Rights. Now Ms. Jebb was not just anyone. She was the founder of Save the Children Fund. That one is still active and having a profound impact.

It must have been a battle but she managed to get the League of Nations (the forerunner for UN) to adopt the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924. This was the first human rights document ever to be approved by several nations.

The five carrying points were:

• 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 succoured. 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 its fellow men.

Did it just die thereafter? Not at all!

20 November 1959 saw the UN adopting the declaration with a few additions.

1989 saw the UN issue the declaration as a convention. A convention is one where the member states are obliged to adhere.

Wiki says:

“The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.

The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.

Nations that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law. Compliance is monitored by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is composed of 18 independent experts.

And that is why I think it is worth celebrating and commemorating on 20 November.