Prohibiting corporal punishment: achieving equal protection for children in EU member states
Following up the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children
Protection from all corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment is a fundamental human right of every child – in every setting of their lives including their family home. This right is enshrined in international human rights law. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international and regional instruments impose an obligation on states which ratify them to ensure that their citizens are protected from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. The obligation entails legislative measures to ensure protection, as well as administrative, social and educational measures. Children have a right to legal protection from assault just as adults enjoy.
For too long, children all over the world were treated as second class citizens, not full human beings; adults could treat them as they wished and inflict violent punishment with impunity. The enactment in Sweden in 1979 of legislation explicitly prohibiting all corporal punishment of children, including in their homes, marked a turning point – and Europe continues to lead the way. States in all regions are reforming their legislation to outlaw violent punishment of children; in the European Union states which have not yet achieved this reform are in the minority. This report documents the transformation of a region, and of a particular group of countries within that region, from a place where at best children lacked legal protection from assault, at worst laws explicitly condoned violence against them, to a place where the majority (almost 53%) are legally protected from assault at the hands of those responsible for their care. The transformation is by no means complete – some states have still to fulfil their human rights obligations in this respect, others must do more to ensure their prohibiting laws are fully implemented and enforced. This momentum of change must be maintained so that all children can grow up free from violent punishment.
Published : 11th March 2013
Publisher : United Nations [ More From This Publisher ]
Rights : United Nations
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