Date: September 2009

Inter-American Commission calls on states to prohibit all corporal punishment

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has called on member states of the Organisation of American States (OAS) to prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment of children.

Its new 44-page thematic report – Report on Corporal Punishment and Human Rights of Children and Adolescents – was prepared by the office of the Rapporteur on the Rights of the Child, Professor Paulo Pinheiro. It includes an analysis of state responsibility in the use of corporal punishment by private citizens and of corporal punishment in relation to those with parental authority. It makes detailed recommendations to member states concerning the actions they should take to achieve full prohibition of corporal punishment.

To date, three OAS member states have achieved law reform to prohibit all corporal punishment – Costa Rica (2008), Uruguay (2007) and Venezuela (2007) – and draft legislation is under discussion in some others.

The report is available in English and Spanish.

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