Venezuela prohibits all corporal punishment of children

In December 2007, Venezuela enacted legislation which prohibits all corporal punishment of children, including in the home. A new article (article 32-A) has been inserted into the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents which explicitly states that “all forms of physical and humiliating punishment are prohibited”. It puts an obligation on “parents, representatives, guardians, relatives, and teachers” to use “non-violent methods of education and discipline to raise and educate their children”. It also places an obligation on the State – “with the active participation of society” – to “ensure policies, programmes and protection measures are in place to abolish all forms of physical and humiliating punishment of children and young people”.

The new provision clearly defines corporal punishment as “the use of force, in raising or educating children, with the intention of causing any degree of physical pain or discomfort to correct, control or change the behaviour of children and young people”. Humiliating punishment is defined as “any form of offensive, denigrating, devaluing, stigmatising or mocking, treatment, carried out to raise or educate children and young people, with the aim of disciplining, controlling or changing their behaviour”.

The new law makes Venezuela the second Latin American state to formally ban all corporal punishment of children, coming within weeks of prohibition in Uruguay, and the fifth country to achieve prohibition in legislation this year. It brings the total number of states worldwide with full prohibition to 21, with at least a further 15 committed to reform.

Click here for further details of the prohibition in Venezuela, and information on other states prohibiting all corporal punishment.

Details of all Venezuelan laws relating to corporal punishment of children, as well as research and recommendations from human rights treaty monitoring bodies, are available in the full country report for Venezuela.

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