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Summary: Report launched at the conference on Violence Against Girls in Africa, organised by the African Child Policy Forum, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11 May 2006.
Hitting people is wrong – and children are people too. This is the clear message of an All-Africa special report – Ending Legalised Violence Against Children – which calls on all African states to fulfil their human rights obligations to children by prohibiting and eliminating all corporal punishment and other humiliating punishment of children. Jaap Doek, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: “Many citizens and politicians express deep concern about increasing violence in their societies. The credibility of this concern is questionable as long as they are not willing to seriously and systematically address the use of violence against children. And nobody should suggest that a little bit of violence is acceptable. That applies equally for adults and for children”. Jean-Baptiste Zoungrana, Chairperson, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: “Although some legislative measures have been taken to ban violence against children in schools, care institutions and penal systems in many African states, not much has been done to end corporal punishment administered to children by their families, in their homes, where violence seems to be culturally accepted. In fact, thousands of homes have become real laboratories of violence against children and the media have reported many cases. That is unacceptable.” The report is published jointly by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children and Save the Children Sweden, which has four regional offices working in Africa.
The 60-page report includes recommendations calling for law reform and educational measures, an analysis of the legality of corporal punishment in all African states and of the international and regional human rights standards that require prohibition.
The report emphasises that ending corporal punishment is a global issue – and also a very personal issue because most people in every state in the world have been hit and humiliated as children. But law reform and other measures to end corporal punishment are now accelerating and the current UN Study on Violence against Children provides a particular context for progress.
Research studies from 18 states in the region show varying rates of use of corporal punishment in the home, with a majority around 80 per cent. The report also summarises studies in which children have been interviewed about their experience of corporal punishment and their attitudes to it.
The report, to be launched at the Addis Ababa conference, includes endorsements from organisations across Africa and messages of support from:
Mrs Zyneb Jammeh, First Lady, The Gambia: “Discipline, without doubt, is quite cardinal in raising children. Nevertheless, policy makers and parents should all make sure that the enforcement of disciplinary values does not marginalise or brush aside the rights of the child. Similarly, violence against children has no place in society and should not be entertained. Violence would only make children become social misfits and a menace to society and its development.”
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Independent Expert leading UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children: “Challenging corporal punishment, alongside challenging domestic violence against women, is no threat to the family in all its forms. On the contrary, the promotion of non-violent, positive forms of discipline reinforces the family’s role in protecting children from all forms of violence.”
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu: “Violence begets violence and we shall reap a whirlwind. Children can be disciplined without violence that instills fear and misery, and I look forward to church communities working with other organisations to use the context of the Study to make progress towards ending all forms of violence against children.”