Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: The report shows that children in eight states
in the South Asia region are not fully protected
under assault laws, despite the clear
international human rights standard that
children should be protected equally with
adults.
NEWS RELEASE Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
for immediate release May 2005
CHILDREN IN SOUTH ASIA DENIED HUMAN RIGHT TO EQUAL LEGAL
PROTECTION FROM ALL VIOLENCE
A new report shows that children in eight states in the South Asia region
are not fully protected under assault laws, despite the clear international
human rights standard that children should be protected equally with
adults. The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, a
worldwide coalition of more than 100 organisations, has submitted the
report entitled “Ending legalised violence against children” to the South
Asia Consultation of the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against
Children (Islamabad, 19 -21 May 2005) - one of nine regional conferences
to be held this year.
The report reviews the legal status of violent punishment in each state in
the region. It found that many still allow children to be hit in schools, the
penal system and alternative care settings. All still allow children to be
legally assaulted in the home.
The prevalence of violent punishment is also reviewed. Where research
had been conducted, the report found high levels of violence against
children, particularly in the family setting.
The report argues that giving children less protection than adults fuels the
social acceptability of violent punishment. The law should say that hitting
children - who are smaller and more fragile - is at least as wrong as hitting
anyone else.
Recommendations in the report, which are endorsed by major human
rights and children’s organisations in the region, include:
· Explicit prohibition of all violent punishment of children in the family,
schools, the penal system and alternative care settings in order to give
children equal protection with adults;
· Greater awareness-raising and public education on children’s right to
equal protection and the negative effects of violent punishment;
· Greater research to show the extent of violent punishment in all settings.
The report explains that these vital steps are requirements of human
rights obligations under international treaties. The UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child, the body monitoring compliance with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, has already expressed concern at the prevalence of
violence against children to seven states in the South Asia region.
In a foreword to the report, Jaap Doek, chairperson of the UN Committee
on the Rights of the Child, writes: “If we all want a violence-free society,
we must hope that the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against
Children will accelerate moves to prohibit and eliminate all corporal
punishment as an unacceptable violation of human dignity and physical
integrity”.
Peter Newell, Joint Co-ordinator of the Global Initiative, said: “The UN
study must lead all countries to satisfy their human rights obligations to
safeguard children from all forms of violence. In the 21st Century, we
cannot go on denying children their fundamental human right to protection
from being hit that we take for granted for ourselves.”
ENDS.
For further information: Peter Newell – attending consultation
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
Email [email protected].
The report is available at www.endcorporalpunishment.org.
It is also available in
href="http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/pdfs/Report-WestCentralAfrica-fr.pdf">French.pdf: www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/pdfs/Report-SouthAsia.pdf