2. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ii
Timeline
1832 In the United States, the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics, and Other
Working-men condemn child labor.
1869 In one of the first such court rulings in the United States, the parents of Samuel Fletcher are
fined $300 for child abuse.
1881 First national convention of the American Federation of Labor passes a resolution calling
on U.S. to ban children under age 14 from employment.
1899 Illinois Juvenile Court Act establishes the first juvenile court system in the world in the
United States, in Chicago.
1903 U.S. reformer "Mother" Jones organizes children working in mills and mines in the
"Children's Crusade," a march from Pennsylvania to New York.
1904 National Child Labor Committee forms to abolish all child labor in the United States.
Lewis Hine produces photographs of children at work for the organization.
1909 Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt convenes the White House Conference on
Children to "consider the care of children."
1912 U.S. Children's Bureau is established as the first federal agency in the world to educate
people about general child care and development.
1916 First U.S. child labor law prohibits interstate movement of goods made by children. The
law was declared unconstitutional too years later by the U.S. Supreme Court (Hammer
v.Dagenhart).
1918 Laws in every state in the United States require children to attend elementary school.
1919 Newly formed League of Nations establishes the Committee for the Protection of Children.
1924 Declaration of the Rights of the Child (part of the Geneva Convention) is adopted by the
League of Nations and establishes first international children's rights.
1938 Fair Labor Standards Act establishes a minimum age for employment for children in the
United States.
1944 U.S. Supreme Court holds in Prince v. Massachusetts that the government has authority to
regulate the actions and treatment of children.
3. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS iii
1946 UNICEF is created by the United Nations as the International Children's Emergency Fund.
1948United Nations General Assembly passes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which refers in Article 25 to children as "entitled to special care and assistance."
1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child is unanimously endorsed by the United Nations
General Assembly. The document builds upon provisions already outlined in the 1924
declaration.
1962 The first child abuse reporting statutes for the United States are discussed by the U.S.
Departments of Health, and Education, and the U.S. Children's Bureau.
1966United Nations General Assembly adopts International Covenants on Civil and Political
Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
1967 U.S. Supreme Court decides that juveniles in the juvenile court system have the same legal
rights as adults under fee 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
1969 U.S. Supreme Court rules in Tinker v. Des Moines that children have First Amendment
rights to freedom of speech and expression at school.
1973 Minimum Age Convention attempts to establish an international minimum age for
employment with the goal of abolishing child labor.
1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act is passed by Congress- mandating the
appointment of guardian ad litem in child abuse and neglect cases.
1979United Nations declares the Year of the Child in honor of the 20th anniversary of the 1959
Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
1982 The National Court Appointed Special Advocate Associated (National CASA) was created.
1989United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child becomes the most comprehensive
legal document protecting the rights of children.
1990 World leaders sign the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection, and Development of
Children, a plan to improve child survival, health, nutrition, and education.
1995 Madeleine Albright, acting as the U.S. Delegate to the United Nations, signs the
Convention on the Rights of the Child following Congressional ratification discussions.
4. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS iv
1999 International Labor Organization adopts Convention No. 182 concerning the prohibition of
the worst forms of child labor
2000United Nations General Assembly adopts optional protocols to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, prohibiting child prostitution and sex trafficking, and the use of child
soldiers.
2002 United States ratifies both of the United Nations optional protocols.
2005 United States Supreme Court declares in Roper v. Simmons that it is unconstitutional to
impose the death penalty for crimes committed before age 15.
2010 Somalia and the United States remain the only countries eligible to ratify the Convention
on the Rights of the Child that have not yet done so.
