Date: December 2007

UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights urges Belgium and Costa Rica to prohibit corporal punishment of children in the home

Following its examination of Belgium’s third report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in November 2007, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended that the state party “adopt specific legislation prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment of children within the family” (3 December 2007, E/C.12/BEL/CO/3, para. 33). In 2005, a proposed amendment to the Civil Code was introduced to the Senate which would have prohibited corporal punishment, but law reform is yet to be achieved.

The Committee also recommended prohibition in Costa Rica, following examination of the state party’s fourth report, and expressed concern “that corporal punishment within the family, in the form of ‘moderate correction’, is still allowed under article 143 of the State party’s Family Code” (4 December 2007, E/C.12/CRI/CO/4 draft, paras. 23 and 44). A draft law on the Abolition of Corporal Punishment Against Minors (2004), which would prohibit corporal punishment in all settings, is currently under consideration.

Increasingly, international and regional treaty monitoring bodies are joining the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in expressing concern at the legality of corporal punishment of children within the home setting and urging states parties to the treaties they monitor to enact legislation explicitly prohibiting all corporal punishment, including by parents.

Click here for detailed reports on corporal punishment of children in Belgium and Costa Rica.

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