International Children’s Day
The International Children’s Day (ICD) is celebrated in numerous countries, usually (but not always) on June 1 each year.
The ICD had its origin in Turkey in 1920 (April 23, 1920) and later in the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland in 1925. It is not clear as to why June 1 was chosen as the ICD: one theory has it that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco (USA) gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the conference in Geneva.
June 1 has since been observed as the ICD by numerous countries; in the Western world the ICD is usually celebrated on other days of the year (if at all), and there is often little public awareness about these celebrations. Nonetheless, in recent years even some groups within the United States started observing the ICD on June 1.
The United Nations General Assembly recommended in 1954 (resolution 836(IX)) that all countries institute a Universal Children’s Day, to be observed as a day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children and of activity promoting the welfare of the world’s children. It suggested to governments that the Day be observed on the date which each considers appropriate.
The date of 20 November marks the day in which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989 and is often the day chosen by countries as their own designated day to observe Universal Children’s Day.
State governments are responsible for passing legislation providing a day and name appropriate for their compliance with the United Nations General Assembly resolution. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights / UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
