The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations by its resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989. This was the end of a process that had begun with the preparations for the 1979 UN International Year of the Child. That year, discussions started on a draft convention submitted by the government of Poland.
The drafting of the Convention took place in a working group set up by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Government delegates formed the core of the drafting group, but representatives of United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, as well as a number of non-governmental organizations, also took part in the deliberations.
The rights of children had been discussed before by the international community. Declarations on the rights of the child had been adopted by both the League of Nations (1924) and the United Nations (1959). Also, specific provisions concerning children had been incorporated in a number of human rights and humanitarian law treaties. Nevertheless, some States argued that there was a need for a comprehensive instrument dealing with children’s rights that would be binding under international law.
The unanimous adoption of the Convention by the General Assembly in 1989 paved the way for the next stage: ratifications by States and the setting up of a monitoring committee. By September 1990, 20 States had ratified the Convention, leading to its entry into force.
In the same month, the World Summit for Children was held in New York on the initiative of UNICEF and six States (Canada, Egypt, Mali, Mexico, Pakistan and Sweden). By the end of 1990, 57 States had ratified the Convention. In 1993, the UN World Conference on Human Rights held at Vienna declared the goal of universal ratification by the end of 1995. By 31 December 1995, no less than 185 countries had ratified the Convention. This rapid progress in attracting states parties to the Convention is exceptional in the field of human rights.