On November 20th, 1959 the United Nations proclaimed in a general assembly the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, to protect and ensure the well being and happiness of all children. The Declaration was put in place in an attempt to guarantee the protection, educational rights, proper care, and freedoms, among other aspects, of children around the world. These values were to be upheld and protected, not only by parents, but teachers, employers, government officials, and mankind as a whole. The United Nations Declaration was put in place to help every child, regardless of their race, gender, religion, physical or mental disabilities, thrive and develop their best abilities that, in turn, would benefit society. While this bill was created to safeguard and promote the same values expressed and outlined in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there were other push factors that resulted in the Declaration’s creation. The social upheaval and changes left in the wake of World War II, just over a decade before this bill came to be, left many struggling to adapt to new technologies and modern inventions and values, while trying to convert back to old traditions and beliefs from before the war. This left new family dynamics, previously nonexistent, and a huge rise in a young population as a result of the baby boom, and thus, a need to find new ways to care for the world’s children. The result, which also created the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, was that of government and childhood officials stepping in to do what many thought the new parenting styles of post-war Canada could not: protect a child’s happiness and freedom.

          The Declaration of the Rights of the Child outlines a few key ideas. One is the insurance at all children, everywhere, have equal rights, the same as those outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “…everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, birth or other status”. The United Nations goes on to state that due to the mental immaturity of children, these rights must be given extra attention and special protection. Since these rights could not be defended by children themselves, again due to age, it was up to mankind to protect them, “Whereas mankind owes to the child the best it has to give…”. The Declaration goes on to discuss how children not only have rights to personal freedom, but to happiness in their lives. The document calls upon everyone from parents, to individuals, to organizations, to the government itself, to make sure childhood is a joyful experience, where the world’s youth can learn and grow in a safe, pleasant environment. The importance of this is stressed since, as children enter adulthood, they will come to define society and change the world in their own ways. To ensure a child’s happiness was, and still is, believed to guarantee the good and continuity of society. Following this idea is the ensurance of a child’s development through education. The United Nations Declaration gives each child the equal opportunity to obtain free and compulsory schooling in the elementary stages, as well as similar rights in play and recreation. The right to education is also extended to children who may be mentally or physically handicapped, to ensure they receive specialized schooling. The Declaration of the Rights of the Child aims to protect a child from birth onwards, and even before. It implores the parents to give all the love, understanding, and nurturing care needed by children, and states that in times of trouble children shall receive relief first. The United Nations also declares the importance of the protection of children and their mothers, “He shall be entitled to grow and develop in health; to this end, special care and protection shall be provided to him and to his mother, including adequate prenatal and postnatal care. The child shall have the right to adequate nutrition , housing, recreation and medical services”. Finally, the Declaration was to protect children from any forms of exploitation, by parents, employers, or otherwise. All this was to make sure that children were given a proper chance to grow, explore, develop, and in the future, benefit the society that painstakingly helped raise it. The child, in the end, would have grown up protected from the negative aspects of life, that may have directed it towards discriminatory attitudes and immoral actions, and turned them into an individual with the “…spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood…”.

          The Declaration carries the general attitude of protection and care for society’s youth, and a lust for the wellbeing of these young individuals. It appears that the United Nations, and the governmental powers representing each country apart of it, have taken on a parental persona, as they strive to provide for the world’s children in ways previously left to parents. They have taken over the concern each parent should have for their children, and have stepped in to provide direction in the lives of children by disciplining how both parents and society as a whole provide for them. This shift of power over a child’s life from parents to the government, and larger organizations, can be seen to take off after World War II. This is due to the shifting role of parenthood caused by the changes the war brought into the family dynamic. The war took away fathers to fight, leaving the absence of a male authority figure in the home. The mother also turned absent, as many women left their traditional role in the home in favour of working in industry and wartime enterprises. This did not change with the end of the war, as women achieved a permanent and prominent role in the workforce. The absence of parents, especially mothers, from the lives of Canadian children led to a widespread worry for the children and their development. Many believed without the proper guidance children would be turned towards delinquency, hooliganism, and other immoral behaviours. So, if parents could not be trusted to properly raise their children, it would fall to the government and their organizations to do this instead. The government’s intervention into the lives of everyday people had started with World War I, and grew with World War II. The government came to develope a much more active role, as people began to see that the government could do more for their wellbeing, on a more personal level. Their entrance into the lives of families to ensure that children were being properly raised comforted many people. Also seen, was the entrance of the government and their officials into schools, to further guarantee the proper growth and education of the counties youth. The importance of education, as discussed previously, was one of the central ideas of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. From this bill, and the areas where the government decided to intervene, it can be safely assumed that the general opinion at the time of the Declarations creation, was that the two governing forces dictating a child’s growth and well being were the home and the school. The government, like society at large, recognized the importance of instilling patriotism and certain moral values in children for two main reasons. The first, is simply that one day these children would grow up and enter the workforce and become the new great minds and leaders of Canada, so to help direct Canada’s future, they must begin with the children. Second, was that it was simply too hard to change, adjust, and redirect the beliefs of adults, so by implementing social control on their children, they could, in a way, control the adults, or at the least dismantle any improper teachings they were giving to their children. It was in the best interest of the government, and the public, to have their young population growing up right in the changing times following World War II, and entering into the Cold War, especially since the baby boom had led to a massive amount of young. To help ensure all of this is the reason pieces of legislation, such as the United Nation’s Declaration of the Rights of the Child, came to creation. These legally binding bills attempt to control the home and the school, among other factors in the lives of children, to ensure their health, happiness and well-being.

          The Declaration of the Rights of the Child put forth by the United Nation in 1959 displays the desire to protect Canadian youth during a time of vast change, modernization, and differing family roles and structures. This primary source shows the continuation of government intervention into the everyday lives of its citizens, that began with both the world wars. This intervention had the public’s support, as they came to see the true role government could play in their lives and how it could benefit then. This also helped to calm a society gripped by fear of children growing up without the proper care and attention of their parents, by showing that these children could still be properly directed. The Declaration shows the known importance of a nation’s youth, and the intense need to provide care, nurturing, education, and happiness to them, and protect their rights and freedoms. This adds to our greater understanding of the past and our historiography of Canada, by displaying the changing roles of government in the lives of the public, the changes in both the home and the school, and the increased desire to establish and protect basic human rights for everyone, especially social groups like children who cannot protect them themselves. The changes brought on by the impacts of war, technology, modernization, and a growing understanding of the world and the people in it, has led to pushes for the implementation of things such as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, to protect what we deem most important in our lives, and the future of the world.       

Bibliography

McDonald, Neil, “Egerton Ryerson and the School as an Agent of Political Socialization,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 39-56.

Myers, Tamara and Mary Anne Poutanen. “Cadets, Curfews, and Compulsory Schooling: Mobilizing Anglophone Children in WWII Montreal.” Histoire Sociale 38, no.76 (2005): 367-398.

Yazarsız, Y . “Declaration of the Rights of the Child”. Milletlerarası Hukuk ve Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk Bülteni 16 (2011): 221-224.

Image: White Mountain Heather, taken by Katryna Barone