FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Universal Children's Day: A Date To Remember

Media Contact:
Sheri Levin, ACEI Public Relations Manager
slevin@acei.org
USA & Canada Toll Free phone: 1-800-423-3563
Fax: 301-570-2212

Olney, MD, November 15, 2007 Universal Children's Day, celebrated November 20th, is recognized worldwide and serves as a reminder that children, birth through 18 years, are entitled to basic human rights. Universal Children's Day commemorates the United Nations General Assembly adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989). The CRC is a tool that benefits all children regardless of ability, culture, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, or socioeconomic status. The core principles of the document are the right to life, survival, and development; non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; and respect for the views of the child. The CRC details these and other human rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols.

Members of the Tennessee Branch of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) recently sponsored a local campaign to collect signatures in support of U.S. ratification of the CRC. Other organizations and communities can advocate and support Universal Children's Day with rallies, activities, and celebrations of children. Nations collectively honoring children on this date focus the world's attention on the rights and needs of all children.

ACEI, a nongovernmental organization, has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). ACEI participates in four UNICEF working groups, including the group that supports ratifying the CRC. Governments that have ratified the CRC have made a commitment to protect and ensure children's rights, and hold themselves accountable to the international community. To date, 193 countries have ratified the CRC, making it the most highly ratified human rights document of its kind. Only Somalia and the United States have not ratified the document.

ACEI Executive Director Gerald Odland remarks, "Intrinsic to ACEI's Mission are the inherent rights, education, and well-being of children worldwide. Universal Children's Day serves to remind all governments and NGO's of the growing concern for the welfare of children in our ever-changing society." Information on Universal Children's Day and suggestions on how to celebrate our most precious resource--children--are available at http://www.unicef.org/knowyourrights/.

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The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) is the oldest professional organization in the world dedicated to the development of the whole child, from birth to early adolescence. Founded in 1892, ACEI is an organization of teachers, teacher educators, and parents whose primary purpose is to promote the inherent rights, education, and well-being of children in the home, school, and community. ACEI publishes the award-winning publication Childhood Education, as well as the Journal of Research in Childhood Education.