Summary of law reform necessary to achieve full prohibition

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

Article 423 of the Civil Code confirms the “right to correct” of persons with parental authority. This defence should be repealed. The near universal social acceptance of corporal punishment in childrearing necessitates clarity in law that no level of corporal punishment is acceptable. The law should explicitly prohibit all corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment, in the home and all other settings where adults have parental authority.

Explicit prohibition should be enacted of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure in all schools, public and private, all institutions accommodating children in conflict with the law and all alternative care settings, including public and private day care, residential institutions, foster care, etc.

Lawfulness of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home. The “right to correct” of persons with parental authority is confirmed in article 423 of the Federal Civil Code (2002). Provisions against violence and abuse in the Law for the Protection for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (2000), the Criminal Code (1984, amended 2003) and the Law on Assistance and Prevention of Domestic Violence (1996) are not interpreted as prohibiting all corporal punishment in childrearing.

Schools

Corporal punishment is lawful in schools. Article 32 of the Law for the Protection for the Rights of Children and Adolescents states that children have a right to an education that respects their dignity and indicates that laws must promote the necessary measures to impede discipline in educational institutions which affects a child’s dignity or physical or mental integrity, but there is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment. Corporal punishment is not prohibited in military schools.

Penal system

Corporal punishment is unlawful as a sentence for crime. The Constitution states (article 22): “Punishment by mutilation and infamy, branding, flogging, beating with sticks, torture of any kind, excessive fines, confiscation of property and any other unusual or extreme penalties are prohibited.”

There is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions, though there are various prohibitions of ill-treatment and abuse, including article 3 of the Law for the Treatment of Juvenile Offenders for the Federal District in common matters and for all the Republic in federal matters (1992) which states that children must receive fair, humane treatment and prohibits “abuse, being held incommunicado, psychological coercion or any other action that threatens their dignity or physical or mental well-being”, and provisions in the Law for the Protection for the Rights of Children and Adolescents.

Alternative care

Corporal punishment is lawful in other institutions and forms of childcare.

Prevalence research

None identified in the last ten years.

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

“The Committee recommends that the State party: …

c) ensure that children who study in military schools receive an education in accordance with articles 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, taking into account the Committee’s general comment no. 1 on the aims of education;

d) prohibit corporal punishment, taking into account the Committee’s general comment no. 8 on the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment….”

(4 February 2011, CRC/C/OPAC/MEX/CO/1 Advance Unedited Version, Concluding observations on initial report (OPAC), para. 18)

“The Committee is deeply concerned about the fact that corporal punishment is still lawful in the home, and is not explicitly prohibited in the schools, in penal institutions and in alternative care settings. It is further concerned that children have limited protection from violence and abuse under the law, and consequently that corporal punishment is widely used within the family, in schools and other institutions.

“The Committee recommends that the State party, taking into account its General Comment no. 8 (2006) on the Right of the Child to Protection from Corporal Punishment and Other Cruel or Degrading Forms of Punishment:

1. amend all relevant federal and state laws to ensure that corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited in all settings, including the family, schools, penal institutions, and alternative care settings, and ensure the effective implementation of these laws;
2. take effective measures, including through public awareness campaigns, to promote alternative, positive, participatory and non-violent forms of discipline.

“While welcoming the measures taken to encourage indigenous children to attend schools, the Committee remains deeply concerned at the limited enjoyment of rights by indigenous children....

“The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to protect the rights of indigenous children against discrimination and to guarantee their enjoyment of the rights enshrined in domestic law and in the Convention. The Committee further recommends that the State party provide indigenous communities, with sufficient information, in their own language as well as in a child friendly format, regarding birth registration procedures, child labour, education and health, HIV/AIDS, child abuse and neglect, including corporal punishment....”
(2 June 2006, Unedited Version, CRC/C/MEX/CO/3, Concluding observations on third report, paras. 35, 36, 72 and 73)

“… Concern is also expressed that domestic legislation, at both the federal and state levels, does not explicitly prohibit the use of corporal punishment in schools. In the light of, inter alia, articles 19 and 39 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party continue taking effective measures, including setting up multidisciplinary treatment and rehabilitation programmes, to prevent and combat child abuse and ill-treatment of children within the family, at school and in society at large. It suggests that law enforcement should be strengthened with respect to such crimes, that adequate procedures and mechanisms to deal effectively with complaints of child abuse should be reinforced in order to provide children with prompt access to justice and that the use of corporal punishment at home, in schools and other institutions, be explicitly prohibited by law. Furthermore, educational programmes should be established to combat traditional attitudes within society regarding this issue. The Committee encourages the State party to consider seeking international cooperation to this effect from, inter alia, UNICEF and international non-governmental organizations.”
(10 November 1999, CRC/C/15/Add.112, Concluding observations on second report, para. 25)

Universal Periodic Review

Mexico was examined under the Universal Periodic Review process in 2009. The Government accepted the recommendations to prohibit corporal punishment of children.