Date: January 2006

Greece moves towards prohibition of corporal punishment in the family

In November 2005, the Minister of Justice for Greece, Mr. A. Papaligouras, Minister of Justice, announcing a new draft law on domestic violence, stated: “The new law introduces crucial reforms, which I would like to stress in particular... For the first time physical violence against children, as a corrective measure in the context of their upbringing, is explicitly prohibited. Our country thus follows the recommendations of the Council of Europe, the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child, as well as the Public Statement of the Greek Ombudsman”.

In October 2005, the Greek Network for the Prevention and Combating of Corporal Punishment of Children was officially established with the participation of 9 public and non-governmental organisations. The founding members were the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, General Secretariat for Adult Education, General Secretariat for Youth, The Ombudsman (Department of Children’s Rights), Institute of Child Health, Institute of Social Protection and Solidarity, UNICEF-Hellenic Committee and the Hellenic Paediatric Society. The Network was launched with a press conference and had a positive response from the media. The Network’s action plan includes various activities, such as seminars for professionals, further research, special publications, radio and TV spots, etc.

The Network adopted a Declaration – see below.

Declaration of the Network for the Prevention and Combating of Children’s Corporal Punishment

We, the agencies participating in the Network for the Prevention and Combating of Children’s Corporal Punishment , adopt the following principles that are included in the present Declaration and commit ourselves, within the frame of our responsibilities and mission, to promote their implementation in the Greek society. Specifically:

We recognize that all children living in our country have the right to grow and be educated by the adults responsible for them with respect to their personality and their dignity.

We reject the use of any form of corporal punishment of children from wherever it may derive, because it violates their basic rights as they are described in the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, offends their personality, familiarizes them with the use of violence as a means to problem-solving and imposes a risk to their psychological and physical health.

We endorse the recommendation of the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child to the Greek Government “to prohibit all forms of violence against children, including corporal punishment, by law in all contexts, including in the family” . We also agree with the Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for “coordinated and focused awareness-raising campaigns to all member states for the total abolition of corporal punishment of children”.

We support the development of actions for the prevention and combating of corporal punishment of children as well as other forms of violence against children or in their presence. These actions could aim at the improvement of the legal framework for the protection of children and at awareness raising and education of professionals, parents and children as well as the wider public.

We support the cooperation amongst agencies that share the above principles so that their actions become more effective.

We aim at the abolition of the legal and social acceptance of corporal punishment of children in our country, so that these are brought up in a context of dialogue and participation and with methods in accordance with the modern pedagogical principles.

Athens, 18 October 2005

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