International Children's Day

The tradition & historical record

Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honour of children, whose date of observance varies by country. In 1925, International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. Since 1950, it is celebrated on 1 June in many countries that were part of the Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement, which follow the suggestion from Women's International Democratic Federation. World Children's Day is celebrated on 20 November to commemorate the issuance of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1959, along with the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on that date in 1989. In some countries, it is Children's Week and not Children's Day. ¹

Children's Day began on the second Sunday of June in 1857 by Reverend Dr. Charles Leonard, pastor of the Universalist Church of the Redeemer in Chelsea, Massachusetts: Leonard held a special service dedicated to, and for the children. Leonard named the day Rose Day, though it was later named Flower Sunday, and then named Children's Day. Children's Day is first officially declared a national holiday by the Republic of Turkey in 1920 with the set date of 23 April. Children's Day has been celebrated nationally since 1920 with the government and the newspapers of the time declaring it a day for the children. However, it was decided that an official confirmation was needed to clarify and justify this celebration and the official declaration was made nationally in 1929 by the founder and the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. ¹

International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare in 1925. On 4 November 1949, 1 June was established as the International Day for Protection of Children by the Women's International Democratic Federation in Moscow. Since 1950, 1 June is celebrated as Children's Day in many Communist and post-Communist countries. Children's Day is celebrated annually on June 1, established in November 1949 in Paris by the decision of the Congress of the International Democratic Federation of Women, first celebrated in 1950. ¹

On 14 December 1954, a joint resolution by India and Uruguay was passed in the UN General Assembly to encourage all countries to institute a Universal Children's Day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children, and secondly to promote the ideals of the UN Charter and the welfare of the world's children. It is now known as World Children's Day, and is celebrated every year on 20 November. That date commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in a unanimous vote by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1959. It also marks the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is a legally binding document. ¹

The officially recognized date of Children's Day varies from country to country. ¹

Children's Day is celebrated on 1 June in former Soviet Union states (including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) as well as other former or current communist states (Albania, Angola, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ethiopia, East Germany, Kosovo, Laos, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, mainland China, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Tanzania, Vietnam and Yemen, and to the lesser extent in Israel due to the migration of its Soviet Jewish population). This includes 24 countries which regained independence from the USSR, seceded from Yugoslavia Federation, as well as Czechoslovakia and Ethiopia after their respective splits. Ukraine moved its Children's Day celebration from 1 June to 20 November in 2025. World Children's Day is celebrated on 20 November to commemorate the Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1959. This section lists some significant examples, in order of date of observance. ¹

In Cameroon, Children's Day was established as a holiday in 1990. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Children's Day”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

International Children's Day is recorded in open cultural data. The structured record cited below does not describe the practice, and this entry has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²