Lawfulness of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home.

Children have limited protection from violence and abuse under the Children’s Code (1996) and the Criminal Code (1937). Physical punishment causing bodily harm or extreme emotional damage would be outlawed under the Civil Code (1991), the Islamic Penal Code (1996), the Islamic Penalties Act (1982) and the Law on Protection of Children and Adolescents (2003).

Schools

Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools under article 21 of Law No. 210 on primary education (1952), article 48 of Law No. 211 on secondary education (1953) and a number of ministerial decrees. Teachers are criminally liable under articles 241 and 242 of the Criminal Code.

Penal system

Corporal punishment is unlawful as a sentence for crime. It is not a permitted sentence for children between the ages of 7 and 15 years under the Children’s Code (article 101). Children between 15 and 18 years receive reduced penal sentences, and these do not include corporal punishment.

Corporal punishment is unlawful as a disciplinary measure in prisons. The provision for flogging of prisoners in Law No. 396 (1956) was repealed by Law No. 152 (2002), which abolished flogging as a punitive measure in prisons. Under article 42 of the Children’s Code any person arrested or detained “shall be treated in the manner concomitant with the preservation of his dignity” and “no physical or moral harm is to be inflicted upon him”. Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that any person detained “shall be treated in a manner that preserves his human dignity, he should not be harmed physically or mentally”. However, we have been unable to ascertain the legality of corporal punishment in social welfare institutions, in which children below 16 years convicted of crime may be detained. The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners has documented flogging of juveniles in social care institutions (Detention and Detainees in Egypt 2003: Sixth Annual Report on the Condition of Prisons and Detention Centres).

Alternative care

There is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in other institutions and forms of childcare. The provisions against violence in the Children’s Code and the Criminal Code apply. Other applicable law includes Law No. 50 on Child Care (1977) and Decree No. 30 on Child Care (1982) which sets conditions for mandatory day care facilities for children under the age of 6 years.

Workplace

No information.

Prevalence research

A study of 2,170 preparatory and secondary school students aged 10-20 years in 14 government schools in Alexandria in 1996-7, using a self-administered questionnaire, looked at corporal punishment in schools and in the home. Almost four out of five boys (79.96%) and 61.53% of girls reported corporal punishment by teachers during one year using hands, sticks, straps, shoes and kicks; more than a quarter of boys and 18% of girls reported that beatings caused injuries. Over 37% of children were beaten in the home by parents as a form of discipline and some were also burned (4.18%) or tied (0.37%). For over 25%, physical injuries resulted such as fractures, loss of consciousness and permanent disability; for 61% injuries included bumps and contusions as well as wounds (53%). For 23% the injuries required medical consultation. Corporal punishment was most commonly used against preparatory school aged children, and was increasingly likely the lower the educational attainment of the father and the larger the family size.
(Youssef, R. M. et al., 1998, “Children experiencing violence I: Parental use of corporal punishment”, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol.22, no.10, pp.959-973; Youssef, M. S. A. & Kamel, M. I., 1998, “Children experiencing violence II: Prevalence and determinants of corporal punishment in schools”, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol.22, no.10, pp.975-985)

As part of the World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment (WorldSAFE) cross-national project, researchers looked at incidence rates for corporal punishment as self-reported by mothers covering the period of the previous 6 months. In Egypt, the most frequently reported forms of “severe physical punishment” were hitting the child with an object not on the buttocks (26%) and beating (25%); the most common forms of “moderate physical punishment” were shaking (59%), pinching (45%) and slapping the face or head (41%).
(Reported in Krug, E. G. et al., eds, 2002, World report on violence and health, Geneva: World Health Organization)

In the National Survey of Youth and Social Changes in 1999, 54% of youths at schools said teachers usually beat them. This was more common for boys than girls (61% and 46% respectively), for younger than older students (61% and 39%) and for students in rural areas than in urban areas (57% and 50%).
(Cited in Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners, The Truth: Official Response to the Government of Egypt’s Report to the UN Human Rights Committee)

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

Committee on the Rights of the Child

“In light of articles 19 and 39 of the Convention, the Committee is concerned at the incidence of ill-treatment of children in schools despite its prohibition, and within the family. It is further concerned that domestic violence is a problem in Egypt and that this has harmful consequences on children.

“The Committee recommends that the State party take legislative measures to prohibit all forms of physical and mental violence, including corporal punishment and sexual abuse, against children in the family, the schools, and in care institutions. The Committee recommends that these measures be accompanied by public education campaigns about the negative consequences of ill-treatment of children, and the promotion of positive, non-violent forms of discipline as an alternative to corporal punishment….”
(21 February 2001, CRC/C/15/Add.145, Concluding observations on second report, paras. 37 and 38)

Committee Against Torture

“The Committee welcomes the following:

1. the enactment of legislation banning flogging as a disciplinary penalty for prisoners….”
   

(23 December 2002, CAT/C/SR/29/4, Concluding observations on fourth report, para. 3 (a))