Protection of the rights of children as a sub-category of the human rights is historically speaking a relatively new concept. The Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924) set the foundation of today's understanding of children rights with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights further expanding the legal basis for addressing the issue. The right to nutrition, education, health care, physical safety, freedom from discrimination based on child's race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation sets the responsibilities for the parents as well as the state.
Children rights in the 20th century saw a drastic improvement of the childhood conditions in majority of modern countries after the introduction of aforementioned acts and treaties.
Despite the progress there are still many countries which hinder the civil rights movements and have failed to either ratify these acts or implement and enforce them in fullness mostly due to political, religious or cultural pressure. It should also be noted that there is a lack of consensus on what defies abuse, how to view the under-age marriage and the problem of child labour and indirect business interactions with economies exploiting it.
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