CARIBBEAN: Prohibiting corporal punishment of children in the Caribbean - Progress report 2012

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The Global Context 

Worldwide, the number of states which have achieved law reform to prohibit all corporal punishment of children, including in the home, continues to grow – and has more than doubled since 2005 when this form of violence was highlighted as a particular concern in the UN Study on Violence against Children and prohibition recommended as a matter of priority. As at April 2012, 32 states have laws which protect children from corporal punishment wherever they are, in their homes, schools and penal and care settings. In at least a further 22, governments have made a commitment to enacting full prohibition and/or draft legislation which would achieve full prohibition is actively under consideration. The numbers of states achieving prohibition outside the home also grows, with a substantial majority prohibiting corporal punishment in all their schools (117) and in all institutions accommodating children in conflict with the law (116); 38 states prohibit it in all forms of alternative care. Laws in the majority of states (156) do not allow young offenders to be sentenced to corporal punishment. 

 

Progress in the Caribbean

While no state or territory in the Caribbean has yet achieved prohibition in the home*, legislation has been enacted in relation to other settings: of the 14 independent states and 18 territories covered in this report, 23 have prohibited corporal punishment as a sentence of the courts (five states, all territories), 18 as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions (four states, 14 territories), three in schools (two states, one territory), and two in all forms of care (two states, no territories). But there is still much work to be done in the region: 29 states/territories have yet to prohibit corporal punishment in all their schools, 30 in all care settings and 14 in penal institutions. Nine states have not yet abolished corporal punishment as a sentence for crime. Corporal punishment by parents is still lawful in all 32 states and territories*. 

*Since the publication of this report, Curaçao, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, became the first overseas territory in the region to ban corporal punishment of children in all settings, including the home. 

 

Further Information:

Owner: in collaboration with the Global Movement for Children in Latin America and the Caribbeanpdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Caribbean Report 2012.pdf

Organisation: 
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
Articles: 
Article 19: Protection from abuse and neglect
Attachment: 
caribbean_report_2012.pdf
Link : 

Countries

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