Summary of law reform necessary to achieve full prohibition

Prohibition is still to be achieved in the home, penal system, alternative care settings and possibly schools.

Article 29 of Law No. 16 provides for the “right” of parents to discipline children (information unconfirmed) and legal provisions against violence and assault are not interpreted as prohibiting all corporal punishment. The near universal acceptance of corporal punishment in “disciplining” children necessitates clarity in law that no degree or kind of such punishment is acceptable or lawful. Article 29 of Law No. 16 should be repealed, and explicit prohibition enacted of all corporal punishment, however light and whoever the perpetrator.

There should be explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in laws relating to all education settings, public and private, religious and secular. In the penal system, all judicial corporal punishment of children (under 18) should be prohibited, including under Shari’ah based law. Explicit prohibition should also be enacted in relation to the disciplinary measures permitted in all institutions accommodating children in conflict with the law and in all alternative care settings, including public and private day care, residential institutions, foster care, etc.

Current legality of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home. Article 29 of Law No. 16 provides for the right of parents to discipline their children (information unconfirmed). Provisions against violence and abuse in the Penal Code (1960) and the Juvenile Law (1983) are not interpreted as prohibiting corporal punishment in childrearing.

Schools

Corporal punishment has been prohibited in schools since the 1960s, but we have no details of applicable legislation.

Penal system

Corporal punishment is unlawful as a sentence for crime under articles 6 and 14 of the Juvenile Law and article 31 of the Constitution. However, the Juvenile Law was under review in the 1990s and in 2001 a draft bill was due before Parliament to amend the Penal Code to comply with Islamic law, including penalties of amputation and flogging. We have been unable to ascertain whether these developments allowed for corporal punishment of persons below 18 years of age.

There is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions. Law No. 26 on Prison Regulations (1962) obliges the competent authorities to provide decent treatment to detainees and states that they shall not be subject to degrading treatment.

Alternative care

Corporal punishment is lawful in alternative care settings.

Prevalence research

None identified in the last ten years.

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

Committee on the Rights of the Child

“The Committee expresses its concern about the lack of a specific prohibition in domestic legislation of the use of corporal punishment. The Committee recommends that the State party take all appropriate measures, including of a legislative nature, to prohibit corporal punishment in schools, in the family and other institutions, and in society at large. The Committee also suggests that awareness-raising campaigns be conducted to ensure that alternative forms of discipline are administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity and in conformity with the Convention, in the light of article 28.2 of the Convention.”
(26 October 1998, CRC/C/15/Add.96, Concluding observations on initial report, para. 21)

Committee against Torture

“While noting that for the period of 2001 – 2011 there were 632 trials on cases of torture, ill-treatment and corporal punishment, and that in 248 cases sentences perpetrators were punished, the Committee however notes that the State party failed to provide information on the exact types of penalties applied to the convicted perpetrators (arts. 4, 12 and 13).

The Committee requests the State party to provide information, including statistics, on the number of complaints filed against public officials on torture and ill-treatment, as well as about the results of the proceedings, at both the penal and disciplinary levels, with examples of relevant sentences.”
(June 2011, Advance Unedited Version, Concluding observations on second report, para. 11)

Universal Periodic Review