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 was first officially declared a national holiday by the Republic of Turkey in 1920 with the set date of 23 April. After which it was adopted globally.
International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare in 1925 and then moved on to several countries. As there are different dates for the children’s day celebration on the calendar, the communist and post communist countries picked June 1. This movement went on to find a place in United Kingdom and then United States till it became a world remarkable event.
Universal Children's Day is not just a day to celebrate children for who they are, but to bring awareness to children around the globe that have experienced violence in forms of abuse, exploitation, and discrimination.
Children are used as laborers in some countries, immersed in armed conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences be it religion, minority issues, or disabilities.
As said earlier, the officially recognized date of Children's Day varies from country to country. Below are but a few from countries around the world:
Children's Day is celebrated on 1 June in former Soviet Union states (including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, 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, 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 25 countries which regained independence from USSR seceded from Yugoslavia Federation, as well as Czechoslovakia and Ethiopia after their respective splits.
