November 20, 1989 – Adoption by the U.N. of Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The first article of the Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.

The U.N. adopted the CRC on the 30th anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It came into force on 2 September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. Currently, 196 countries are party to it, including every member of the United Nations except the United States.

It is fortunate for the U.S., but not for children, that the country is not a party to the CRC, since the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from migrant families entering the United States was in violation of rights and international law, as the United Nations human rights office has pointed out. In response to this 2018 statement, the Trump-appointed United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, responded:

Neither the United Nations nor anyone else will dictate how the United States upholds its borders.”

You can read the full text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child here.