Date: February 2007

Concluding observations of the 44th session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommend prohibition of corporal punishment and implementation of the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children

In February 2007 the Committee on the Rights of the Child published its concluding observations on the state party members examined at the Committee’s 44th session (15 January to 2 February) – Chile (third report), Honduras (third report), Kenya (second report), Malaysia (initial report), Mali (second report), Marshall Islands (second report) and Suriname (second report). Examination of the Maldives was postponed.

In all cases the Committee recommended prohibition of corporal punishment in the home, including where relevant the repeal of any legal defences available to parents. Prohibition was also recommended in schools (Malaysia, Suriname), alternative care (Kenya, Mali, Marshall Islands, Suriname), penal systems (Malaysia, Mali, Suriname) and employment settings (Kenya). Prohibition should be accompanied by awareness-raising and public education campaigns against corporal punishment and promoting non-violent, participatory methods of childrearing and education.

As well as referring to the 2006 General Comment No. 8 on Right of the Child to Protection from Corporal Punishment and Other Cruel or Degrading Forms of Punishment, the Committee strongly recommended to all states that they implement the overarching and setting-specific recommendations made by the independent expert of the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, taking into account the outcomes and recommendations of the relevant regional consultations in the Study. The independent expert recommended the prohibition of all corporal punishment in all settings by 2009, together with the promotion of non-violent values and awareness-raising.

Extracts from the concluding observations concerning corporal punishment are available here.

General Comment No. 8 on Right of the Child to Protection from Corporal Punishment and Other Cruel or Degrading Forms of Punishment.

The report of the independent expert to the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, and a book complementing the report, are available at www.violencestudy.org.

Updated individual country reports for each of the states examined in the 44th session are available here.

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