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Article: War in the Twentieth Century
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
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War in the Twentieth Century
Children were included in international conventions for the first time in 1949, when the rights and protection of children in war
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as part of the civilian population
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were mentioned in the fourth Geneva Convention. This was supplemented in 1977 to refer to child soldiers for the first time. The convention provided that children should be protected from military conscription, from the dangers of warfare, from sexual exploitation, and from starvation. In 1989 the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was introduced. Its articles defined standards for the treatment of children, including a child's right to name and nationality, the need for ...