Committee on the Rights of the Child issues concluding observations

Following examination of Venezuela’s second state party report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at its 46th session, the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its concluding observations on 5 October 2007 (CRC/C/VEN/CO/2 Unedited Version). The Committee recommended that Venezuela implement the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, and in particular “Prohibit all violence against children, including corporal punishment in all places” (para. 53).

Legal reform to prohibit all corporal punishment, including within the family, is already under way in Venezuela. Referring to this, the Committee stated (para. 55):

“The Committee urges the State party to adopt and implement new laws explicitly prohibiting corporal punishment in all settings, including in the home and to conduct awareness raising and public education campaigns against corporal punishment and promote non-violent, participatory methods of childrearing and education, while taking due account of the General Comment no. 8 of the Committee on the Right of the Child to Protection from Corporal Punishment and Other Cruel or Degrading Forms of Punishment (2006) as well as the recommendation in the UNSG’s Study on violence against children that all corporal punishment of children be prohibited by 2009.”

Sierra Leone had also been scheduled for examination during the 46th session but this was postponed.

Go to the Committee’s recommendations to states parties concerning corporal punishment.
Also see our detailed report on the legality of corporal punishment of children in Venezuela.

Top