INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY CELEBRATED JUNE 1

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.06.2009 12:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The International Children’s Day is celebrated
throughout the globe on June 1.

The Day 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 International Children’s Day: 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.

Children’s Day was first celebrated worldwide in October 1955, under
the sponsorship of International Union for Child Welfare in Geneva. The
idea of a Universal Children’s Day was mooted by Rubab Mansoor grade 8
and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954. Moazzem and
Abass helped and contributed a lot in this. Universal Children’s Day
takes place on November 20 annually. First proclaimed by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1954, it was established to encourage
all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange
and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to
benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children. It was also
chosen as the day to celebrate childhood.

November 20 is also the anniversary of the day when the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child
in 1959. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was then signed
on the same day in 1989, which has since been ratified by 191 states.

Children’s Day is celebrated on 1 June each year. It is usually marked
with speeches on children’s rights and wellbeing, children TV programs,
parties, various actions involving or dedicated to children, families
going out etc.