Date: October 2006

Global Initiative issues first global report on progress towards eliminating corporal punishment

The first global report on progress towards ending all corporal punishment of children is published on October 12 2006. The report – Ending legalised violence against children – summarises the legality of corporal punishment in each state worldwide, revealing that just 53 million of the world’s 2,187 million children live in countries where the law gives them the same protection as adults from being assaulted.

This follows presentation to the UN General Assembly on October 11 2006 of the report of the UN Secretary general’s Study on Violence against Children, which sets 2009 as the deadline for prohibition of all forms of violence in all states.

The Global Initiative report says: “Hitting people is wrong and children are people too. Corporal punishment of children breaches their fundamental rights to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity. Its legality breaches their right to equal protection under the law. Urgent action is needed in every region of the world to respect fully the rights of all children – the smallest and most fragile of people”.

The report includes key messages:
Jaap Doek, chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: “Many citizens and politicians express deep concern about increasing violence in their societies. The credibility of this concern is questionable as long as they are not willing to seriously and systematically address the use of violence against children. And nobody should suggest that a little bit of violence is acceptable. That applies equally for adults and children”.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “Progress towards abolishing corporal punishment is being made, but millions of the world’s children still suffer from humiliating acts of violence… Violence begets violence and we shall reap a whirlwind. Children can be disciplined without violence that instils fear and misery…”

Professor Paulo Pinheiro, Independent Expert leading the UN Secretary-General’s Study on violence against children, notes that his Study report, presented to the UN General Assembly on October 11, sets a target date of 2009 for all states to prohibit all forms of violence, including all corporal punishment in all settings: “This is of course an ambitious target, but it is not unrealistic, given the obligations that 192 states have accepted by ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Children involved in the Study throughout the world have told me how much they are hurt – and not just physically – by the routine violent punishments which so many suffer at home, in schools and other places.

“Children are watching to see whether this global Study will have a real and positive impact on their lives. None of us, as I argue in the report, can look children in the eye, if we continue to approve or condone any form of violence against them”.

The report details the human rights standards, both international and regional, which require prohibition of all corporal punishment. It quotes from key high-level court judgments in all regions. A summary of more than 250 research studies in over 100 states worldwide reveal “the huge numbers of children suffering everyday violence at the hands of parents and teachers in the name of ‘discipline’”.

The report also summarises research into what children say about corporal punishment:
“This pain stays with you, you don’t forget, doesn’t matter if you forgive that person – it stays with you” : boy, 14, Fiji
“At time we want to kill or send to jail the person who is beating us: grade 5 student, Pakistan
“You feel that your parents don’t love you if it’s your parents smacking because why would they smack you?” : boy, 10, Northern Ireland.

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