Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Briefing for the 51st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women taking place from 26 February until 9 March 2007 in New York. The theme of the session is on violence against girls.
In most states across the world, hitting and beating girls and boys is socially and legally accepted in the name of “discipline” or “correction”. The perpetrators are most Girls need protection from violence inflicted by adults in authority in the name of “discipline”, just as they need protection from that inflicted in the name of “tradition” or The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requires states to protect children from “all forms of physical or mental violence” while in the care of parents or others The Committee on the Rights of the Child – the monitoring treaty body for the CRC – consistently interprets the Convention as requiring prohibition of all corporal punishment in the family, in all forms of alternative care, in schools, and in juvenile justice settings, linked to awareness-raising and public education. In 2006, the Committee adopted General Comment No.8 on the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment. Other human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee Against Torture, have also condemned corporal punishment of children, as have regional human rights mechanisms. CEDAW’s condemnation of all violence The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women does not explicitly include the right to protection from violence. But the Committee on Advocates of the rights of women and girls have a great deal of experience in combating forms of violence which may be widely culturally, socially and legally accepted. Nearly all states now have legislation in place or in progress prohibiting domestic violence, and many are now working to eliminate female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices. It is essential that there should now be strong advocacy to prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment, another form of violence which adults commonly disguise as “discipline” and seek to justify by way of tradition and/or religion. Girls themselves consistently report it to be damaging to their dignity and self-esteem, to their emotional and physical development and to their relationships at home, school and elsewhere. Progress towards prohibition The pace of legal reform is rapidly gaining momentum. Sweden became the first country to prohibit explicitly all corporal punishment and other humiliating treatment of children in 1979. By 1996, six countries had adopted prohibition – by 2001 this had risen to 12, and by 2006 there were 17. Up to a further 24 countries have legislation in preparation or have committed themselves to legal reform towards full prohibition, including in the home, and 27 have made partial progress in the last three years by introducing or committing to introduce prohibition in settings other than the home. As at February 2007, corporal punishment is prohibited in all settings, including the home, in 17 states. It is prohibited in all schools in 102 states; in penal systems (both as a sentence and as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions) in 104 states (and in parts of the penal system in a further 55 states); and in all alternative care settings in 28 Further information:
commonly those closest to them – parents, teachers and guardians, both men and women.
“health” or due to stereotypical views of gender. Corporal punishment breaches all children’s fundamental rights to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity. Its
legality breaches their right to equal protection under the law. These rights are upheld for everyone – including girls and boys – in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
(article 19). It requires discipline in schools to be “administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity” (article 28). Children, wherever they are, must never be subjected to “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (article 37).
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, its monitoring body, has recognised that articles 2, 5, 11, 12 and 16 of the Convention require States parties to act to
protect women against violence of any kind occurring within the family, at the work place or in any other area of social life (General Recommendation No. 12 on Violence
against women, 1989, preamble), and that full implementation of the Convention requires States to eliminate all forms of violence against women (General recommendation No. 19, 1992, on Violence against women, para. 4).
states (in some alternative care settings in a further 29 states).