Date: February 2006

Independent Expert leading UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children pledges to focus on ending corporal punishment

Presenting his progress report to the General Assembly in October 2005, Professor Paulo Pinheiro, the Independent Expert appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan to lead the Study, noted that he had identified a number of key areas, in particular relating to effective prevention and response to violence against children, that will be the focus of his work in the coming year. These include the continued legality and prevalence of corporal punishment against children in the home, schools, alternative care, institutions and the juvenile justice system; the vulnerability of children in conflict with the law, as well as street children, to violence; and the pervasiveness of harmful traditional practices.

Professor Pinheiro has also become very aware of the underlying conditions, such as community attitudes to violence, discrimination, poverty, the unequal status of women and girls, lack of access to quality education and denial of human rights generally, which exacerbate children’s vulnerability to violence. Lack of systematic and quality data and the importance of capacity-building for those working with children have also become clear.

Progress report: http://www.violencestudy.org/IMG/pdf/GA_report_Study_VAC.pdf

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