Date: October 2002

European Social Rights Committee calls for abolition of all corporal punishment

In a "general observation", the European Committee on Social Rights, which oversees implementation of the European Social Charter by Council of Europe member-states, has underlined that the Charter requires "a prohibition in legislation against any form of violence against children, whether at school, in other institutions, in their home or elsewhere". The Committee refers to the consistent condemnation of corporal punishment by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and also to the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the case of "A v UK". It comments: "The Committee does not find it acceptable that a society which prohibits any form of physical violence between adults would accept that adults subject children to physical violence. The Committee does not consider that there can be any educational value in corporal punishment of children that cannot be otherwise achieved."

The Committee, which examines reports from states on implementation of the European Social Charter, has asked them to inform it of progress towards full abolition. For example, in a commentary on a recent report from the UK it notes "that not all forms of corporal punishment are prohibited within the family. The Committee refers to its general observations on Article 17 in the general introduction and decides to defer its conclusion on this point pending more information from the British Government on the situation and on its intentions in this regard. It also wishes to receive information on the situation in Northern Ireland and Scotland."

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