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The Global Initiative has published a new guide to legal reform to support states in prohibiting all corporal punishment of children. Prohibiting corporal punishment of children: A guide to legal reform and other measures details the legislative measures states should take to meet their obligations to prohibit all corporal punishment under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Building on the advice given by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its General Comment No. 8 (2006) on the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment, the handbook provides examples of legislation – in the home, schools, juvenile justice systems and alternative care settings – which would ensure that children are given the same protection from assault that adults enjoy. This ranges from the removal of legal defences relating to “reasonable chastisement/correction” by parents to the repeal of laws authorising corporal punishment in schools and as a sentence of the courts. It also gives guidance on non-legislative measures necessary to support full prohibition. The handbook is accompanied by a new section on the Global Initiative website dedicated to legal reform, providing further resources to support prohibition: www.endcorporalpunishment.org/reform. This includes examples of legislation and other measures which have been taken by states worldwide where prohibition has been achieved in the home and other settings. It also provides links to useful publications available online. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, the Independent Expert appointed by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2003 to lead the comprehensive global UN Study on Violence against Children, writes in the preface to the handbook: "I very much welcome this handbook, and the associated web-based resources, which are designed to help states in all regions achieve effective prohibition and to highlight the advice of the Committee [on the Rights of the Child]. It is not easy to change the mindset of societies and move adults on from justifying violence against children as ‘discipline’. But we really cannot keep children waiting any longer for the legal protection from being hit which we as adults take for granted." A limited number of hard copies is available by contacting [email protected]. Further information