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Summary: Summary of the panel discussion on ending corporal punishment of children that took place at the 60th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
[NEW YORK, 17 September 2005] – A panel discussion on ending corporal punishment was organised today at the UN General Assembly by UNESCO, in collaboration with Save the Children and UNICEF. The event was attended by over one hundred people, including young people, Ambassadors to the UN, other government representatives and members of civil society organisations. Save the Children believes the UN Study is a unique opportunity to challenge and change attitudes which have allowed the legality and social approval of hitting and deliberately humiliating children to persist across the globe. The study should therefore: Read Save the Children's full press release and Save the Children's Submission to the Study. For more information about the Recommendations from the Regional Consultations on corporal punishment, click here.
Ambassador Moushira Khattab, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, who was chairing the meeting, explained that the discussion was an opportunity to highlight some of the concerns about corporal punishment and to propose options for a way forward. She gave an overview of the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the issue of violence against children in general, but also on the Committee’s position with regards to corporal punishment.
Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro explained the misapprehension often encountered regarding the incidence of some forms of violence, such as corporal punishment, where it is often invisible, especially when it occurs in the home; “unfortunately it is the invisibility of some forms that make them prevalent, corporal punishment is one of them”, he explained.
He emphasised that without condemning corporal punishment, it will be difficult to construct a strong protective environment for children. In the study, corporal punishment is seen as a simple and fundamental issue of human rights: children have the right to physical dignity and integrity. “The concept of ‘reasonable chastisement’, or ‘lawful correction’, he explained, was used for centuries by husbands to beat their wives, and masters to beat their apprentices, but society has moved on. The same has to happen for children. Attitudes and practices must be changed to give children equal protection”.
Abigail MacIntire, who was part of the panel to represent young people who had participated at a regional consultation for the Violence Study, highlighted some of the issues affecting children and young people in her region of the Caribbean and introduced some of the work that was being done by young people to help each other in Trinidad. She explained that most young people are at risk of violence in their daily lives, “Violence is affecting all of us, our communities, our families and on the whole, it’s affecting our country. A lot of children need help, there is so much to be done and so little time. It is time all this talk ends, it is time we start helping children, we must act”, she said.
In its recent publication, ‘Eliminating Corporal Punishment’, UNESCO aims, on the one hand, to contribute to the debate by looking at the human rights aspect, and on the other, to demonstrate through research, that corporal punishment is not effective and that it has negative consequences on the psycho-social development of the child. “Our interest is to look forward, and to see how teachers, parents, and care givers can use alternative forms of discipline that are culturally specific and cross cutting”, said Paolo Fontani.
Joan Durrant, Head of Family Social Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada and co-author of the publication asked why it was so difficult to eliminate corporal punishment when it is clearly a violation of children’s rights. “There is belief, she said, that it teaches right from wrong, that it teaches respect, it makes children strong, it toughens them up, that it is distinct from physical abuse, that it is loving punishment, and that it actually works”.
Changu Mannathoko, Regional Education Advisor for UNICEF, talked about the chapter on schools that forms part of the UN Study on Violence against children. A group of experts are working together globally to develop the chapter and this is essential because it is a global problem, that shows the vulnerability to violence of girls and boys, disabled children, poor families and ethnic minorities. The historical context, the impact of war and disasters, oppression, economy, social cultural practices, HIV/AIDS, discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, must all be linked with family and community.
The impact of corporal punishment must also be looked at, such as children dropping out of school, the cost to society, the life cycle of the child, etc. Responses must be multi-sectoral and must look at the legal and policy frameworks, and not just in the education sector, but also with regards to laws in social welfare, in finance, etc. and how they can be reformed. Finally, she emphasised that monitoring and reporting was a major weakness, and that partnership and advocacy must be developed in combination with service delivery to children, linked to curriculum and pedagogy.
Mali Nilsson presented Save the Children’s submission to the UN Study on corporal punishment. She said that as many people refer to children as ‘our future’, physical and humiliating punishment did not fit into this picture, “overall, it increases the use of violence in society, it promotes double standards and it justifies violence”.
- Recommend that states should with urgency explicitly prohibit all violence against children, including all physical punishment in the home and in all settings;
- Law reform should be combined with awareness-raising on children's rights to protection and promotion of positive forms of discipline, working with parents, teachers and other carers;
- Research is needed to make children’s experiences of this violence visible and to fuel campaigns to eliminate it; and
- It needs to demonstrate the importance of involving children in the development of effective and appropriate actions to end all forms of physical punishment and deliberate humiliation.