Countdown to universal prohibition

Global progress towards achieving full prohibition of all corporal punishment of children is accelerating worldwide.  The UN Study on Violence against Children sets a target date of 2009 for universal prohibition, including in the home. In 2007, seven states achieved full prohibition, including the first to do so in the Americas, bringing the total number of states with full prohibition to 23.

Hover over each box below to discover the number of states.

Note: For the purposes of this analysis, the total number of states is 197, comprising all those that have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child except for Vatican City (which has no child population), plus Palestine, Somalia, Taiwan, USA and Western Sahara. For information relating to states’ overseas/dependent territories, including detailed reports on laws and research, go to our online global table.

Even where prohibition in the home is not yet on states’ agendas, progress is being made in enacting prohibition in other settings.

Click here for a global state by state analysis of progress towards universal prohibition.

But there is still a long way to go. If all those states which have publicly committed to full prohibition, and those whose parliaments are currently considering prohibitionist bills, enact prohibition, it would give equal protection from assault to children in a quarter of UN member-states. BUT that still leaves around 80% of the world’s children vulnerable to legalised violence at the hands of adults.

See full details of states which have achieved prohibition, including in the home.

Individual country reports for every state worldwide, including details of relevant legislation, research and treaty monitoring body recommendations

The good news ...

• 23 states have prohibited all corporal punishment in all settings, including the home
• Supreme Courts in 2 additional states – Italy and Nepal – have ruled that corporal punishment in childrearing is unlawful
• At least 23 more states are committed to full prohibition and/or are actively debating prohibitionist bills in parliament
• New Zealand is the first English-speaking state to enact full prohibition (June 2007)
• The first Latin American state to achieve prohibition is Uruguay (November 2007), following within weeks by Venezuela and Chile
• The Council of Europe is the first inter-governmental body to launch a campaign for universal prohibition across its 47 member states
  
  
• These states have achieved full prohibition:
  Select a state for more details... Austria Bulgaria Chile Croatia Cyprus Finland Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Israel Latvia Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Romania Spain Sweden Ukraine Uruguay Venezuela

The bad news ...

• 157 states have yet to make a commitment to prohibition in the home
• At least 88 states have not prohibited corporal punishment in schools
  
  
• These states have not prohibited corporal punishment of children in any setting:
  Select a state for more details... Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Bangladesh Botswana Brunei Darussalam Dominica Lesotho Malaysia Qatar St Kitts and Nevis St Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Sierra Leone Sudan Swaziland United Republic of Tanzania Zimbabwe

• In these states it is still lawful to sentence children to caning, whipping or flogging in their penal systems:
  Select a state for more details... Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Botswana Brunei Darussalam Dominica Eritrea Grenada Guyana Iran Kiribati Lesotho Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Malaysia Maldives Qatar St Kitts and Nevis St Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Sierra Leone Singapore Somalia Sudan Swaziland Tonga United Arab Emirates United Republic of Tanzania Yemen Zimbabwe