The article lists international documents with provisions regarding children's rights as far back as the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child of 1924, and as recent as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. The article discusses in detail some of the provisions and guiding principles of the Convention. Provisions refer specifically to the child's right to self-expression and participation in decisions affecting his or her life; freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; association and peaceful assembly; and privacy and freedom from unlawful interference. Other sections discuss widening social circles for the preschool child, the child's rights in school, and social learning and social competence in the school-age years. The practical means and conditions for these developments will depend on culture and traditions. The article suggests that, since the future of a democratic world may well depend on how these rights are implemented, every effort must be made to increase awareness, spread information and share experiences. Notes