ABSTRACT
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely accepted international treaty in the world, defines how children should be treated in the various areas of their lives. Children and youth are the most recent group to become the focus of debates on rights, and the history of children's rights reflects more generally the changing public awareness of the meaning of childhood. The 1924 Geneva Declaration and the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, both broadly accepted within the international community, had considerable moral weight in promoting the rights of children to protection and care. Adolescent mothers and working youth, for instance, deserve the level of support and consideration legally extended to children. Children's right to the fulfilment of basic human needs is elaborated on in a number of other Articles which emphasize the full development of the child, and establish the ways in which this development must be supported.
