Backgrounder: International Children's Day

BEIJING - The International Children's Day was established in 1949 by the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). Currently, many countries in the world annually observe the International Children's Day on June 1.

In June 1942, Nazi soldiers shot dead over 140 citizens of the Czech village of Lidice, aged above 16-year-old, and sent all women and children to concentration camps, including 90 kids sent to a concentration camp in Poland. Only 17 of the 90 kids survived the war.

In order to commemorate the children who died in Lidice and worldwide during WWII and protect the rights of children, the WIDF council convened a congress in Moscow in November 1949 and formally designated June 1 as a festival for children, i.e., the International Children's Day.

In April 1950, the WIDF council adopted a resolution, calling for commemorating the International Children's Day under the banner of protecting children from the war, cutting military budget and increasing welfare and education allocations for children.

On Dec. 23, 1949, the People's Republic of China officially designated the International Children's Day as a holiday for children in China, known as "the June 1 International Children's Day", starting from 1950.