The Advent of Child Rights on the International Scene and the Role of the Save the Children International Union 1920-45

The Save the Children International Union (SCIU) was founded in 1920 in Geneva by the Save the Children Fund of London in cooperation with the Comité International de Secours aux Enfants of Bern. This philanthropic organization was created in the interwar context. The Declaration of Children's Rights, written in 1923 by the Union, is certainly the most important work of the SCIU. Adopted in 1924 by the General Assembly of the League of Nations, this statement marks the entry of the child into international relations. Moreover, the Declaration reveals the evolving legal status of the child. At times an innocent victim, at other times perceived as an "abnormality”, the notion of childhood is in constant evolution. What this stage of life really represents depends on the way it is viewed by society, by politics, by institutions and organizations, et