Lawfulness of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home.

Schools

Corporal punishment has been prohibited in schools since 1974. Ministerial Decision No. 454 (1998) concerning students’ discipline states that all behaviour correction methods should remain free from cruelty and psychological pain, and should not include verbal abuse, insults, sarcasm, profanity and personal humiliation. Article 9 states that “all forms of physical punishment, threats of decreasing grades, expelling a student during the school day” are prohibited under any circumstances. Teachers using corporal punishment may be subject to written warnings, making a written statement that the offence will not be repeated, and deduction of salaries. The prohibition in private schools is in the Regulation of Behavioural Direction for Private School Students, which states that schools should not resort to non-pedagogic methods for modifying student behaviour.

Penal system

Corporal punishment is lawful as a sentence for crime. Under the Juvenile Delinquents and Vagrants Act (1976), a child over 16 years may be punished under the Penal Code (article 8). Offences for which flogging can be ordered include murder, violent assault, alcohol and drugs related offences, theft and sex crimes. In 2003 it was reported that a 15-year-old girl had been sentenced by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court to flogging for committing adultery but her appeal to the Supreme Federal Court on the grounds of her young age failed because it was ruled that Shari’a courts are solely responsible for applying Shari’a laws for punitive crimes, blood money, drugs, juvenile delinquencies and others, and that according to Shari’a law she had already reached adulthood by reaching puberty as confirmed by a medical doctor. In 2005, two teenage girls aged 15 and 14 were sentenced to 61 lashes each in Sharjah (reported in 7days.ae, 4 July 2006).

In January 2002, the Federal National Council endorsed an amended Penal Code in which some punishments were moderated, others made more rigorous. Article 85 allows a suspension or revocation of an execution order in place of a sentence of flogging. A draft juvenile justice law was also under consideration but we have no further details.

There is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions.

Alternative care

There is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in other institutions and forms of childcare.

Workplace

 No information.

Prevalence research

None identified.

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

Committee on the Rights of the Child

“Contrary to article 37 (a) of the Convention, the Committee is seriously concerned that there is a possibility that persons under 18 may be subjected to judicial sanctions such as flogging.

“The Committee recommends that the State party take immediate steps to abolish the imposition of flogging and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment to persons who have committed crimes when they were under 18.

“The Committee is concerned that there is insufficient information and awareness of the ill-treatment of children, including corporal punishment, within the family, schools and institutions.

“The Committee recommends that the State party:

1. conduct a study to assess the nature and extent of ill-treatment and abuse of children, and design policies and programmes to address it;
2. take legislative measures to prohibit all forms of physical and mental violence, including corporal punishment and sexual abuse of children in the family, schools and in institutions;
3. carry out public education campaigns about the negative consequences of ill-treatment of children and promote positive, non-violent forms of discipline as an alternative to corporal punishment….”

(13 June 2002, CRC/C/15/Add.183, Concluding observations on initial report, paras. 32, 33, 34 and 35 (a, b, c and d))