During the 20^th Century, the international community adopted three treaties specific to the rights of the child; namely the Geneva Declaration (1924), the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989). The latter is commonly depicted as the culmination of a process through which adults succeeded, after centuries of failing to protect and children and to guarantee their wellbeing, in entitling children to human rights. Promoters of the treaty as well as scholars emphasise its comprehensive approach on the specificities of childhood in contrast to other human rights treaties (e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its Convents). Some also argue that it is the most successful international treaty with respect to ratifications since all but three member states of the United Nations have joined the UNCRC. More specifically it is interesting to note that a logic of continuous progress, usually illustrated by the increase of the number and different types of rights at each stage, underlies the understanding of the history of children’s rights at an international level (see notably Cantwell, 1992; Freeman, 1997; Hart & Hart, 2014; Holzscheiter, 2010; Veerman, 1992).

However, the genesis and institutionalisation of children’s rights, which took place within 70 particularly tumultuous and deadly years of human history, is by no means smooth and linear (Fass, 2012; Marshall, 2008; Moody, in press). Issues related to power relations, political influences, religious lobbying and ethical principles are indeed inherent parts of this history. Moreover scholars in the fields of children’s rights studies as well as of education have raised concerns regarding the international children's rights regime. In the main, critics emphasize the western bias in the understanding of childhood and the development of the child deeply embedded in the UNCRC. Some also highlight the latent inadequacy between the standards, their implementation, and the various local realities (see notably Ennew, 2000; Pupavac, 2001; Reynaert, Bouverne-De Bie, & Vandevelde, 2009). The concept of children as bearers of rights also questions the fundamental asymmetry as a constituent of the pedagogical relationship (see notably Meirieu, 2002). These issues are concrete examples of the growing incoherence of the global norm, or of its related regime (for a definition of human rights regime see Donnelly, 1986 and Freeman, 2010).

Given that the Declarations of the rights of the child were successively replaced by a newer and more comprehensive instrument, what can we learn from the specific trajectories of the previous treaties? What do they tell us about this increasing threat on the UNCRC regime, its inertia and internal resistance? How did the Declarations deal with local realities and how successful were they in so doing? Should we understand the three treaties as successive triggers of different children’s rights regimes or at the contrary should they be pictured as milestones of a heterogeneous and dynamic system? Considering that these successive general agreements served the creation of transnational educational ambitions, is the current legal framework adequate with all requirements?

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