Lawfulness of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home.

Under the Law on the Protection, Care and Education of Children (amended 2004), parents should respect the life, physical safety, dignity and honour of children, and ill-treatment, humiliation and neglect are prohibited. Further protection from violence and abuse is given by the Penal Code (1999), the Law on Marriage and the Family (article 26) and the Constitution (1980). Article 32 of the Civil Code (1996) states that individuals have the “right to safety of life, health and body”. As at January 2007, a domestic violence bill was under discussion.

Schools

There is no explicit prohibition of all forms of corporal punishment in schools. Article 108 of the Education Law (1998) states that any person who mistreats or persecutes learners in a school or other educational establishment may be subject to disciplinary or administrative sanctions or examined for penal liability. Decree No. 49/2005/NDD-CP on Handling Administrative Violations in the Field of Education, issued in April 2005, provides for administrative sanctions for people who physically harm learners. Teachers are prohibited from causing physical harm to learners in the Education Bill, and protection from harm is also provided by the Law on the Protection, Care and Education of Children.

Penal system

Corporal punishment is unlawful as a sentence for crime and as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions. Article 7 of the Law on the Protection, Care and Education of Children prohibits acts of “applying measures that offend or lower the honor or dignity of, or applying corporal punishments to, juvenile offenders”. Article 298 of the Penal Code punishes “those who apply corporal punishment in investigating, prosecuting, adjudicating and/or judgement-executing activities”.

Alternative care

There is no prohibition of corporal punishment in other institutions. The provisions against violence and abuse in the Law on the Protection, Care and Education of Children, the Penal Code and the Civil Code (see above) apply.

Workplace

Article 5 of the Labour Code states: “Maltreatment of workers and the use of forced labour are prohibited.”

Prevalence research

Large scale comparative research into the views and experiences of 3,322 children and 1,000 adults in 8 countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mongolia, Philippines, Republic of Korea and Viet Nam) was carried out by Save the Children in 2005. The research in Viet Nam involved 499 children (225 boys, 273 girls) from urban rural and remote areas, and 306 adults (85 men, 219 women). Methods used included research diaries, drawings, body maps, attitude survey, sentence completion, and discussions. Physical punishments mentioned by children in Viet Nam included hitting with implements, punching, kicking, pinching, twisting body parts, throwing objects, electric shocks. At home, punishment by family members included: arm broken, beaten on the buttocks until raw then a mixture of salt and chilli rubbed on the wounds, beaten with a thick stick, ear twisted until torn and bleeding, electrocution with wires, excess labour, knelling on the spiky peel of durian fruit, standing naked outside the house, standing under the weight of a buffalo yoke, head repeatedly submerged in water, hanging on a tree and beaten until unconscious, hung on an electricity pole, hung on a wall by the hands, hung upside down from a tree, tied next to an ants nest, tied to a bicycle and forced to run alongside it, whipped while hanging from a tree. Punishments by teachers at school included: confined under a bed, standing in front of class and being denounced by classmates, hit on forehead by ruler thrown by teacher, hit on head by box of chalks, not being allowed to eat, stripped naked and beaten on the back, two children forced to slap each other on their cheeks. Of those who were hit, 50% were hit with an implement (34.8% with sticks etc, 15.2% with a whip, lash or belt), 45.5% were slapped with the hand, 4.5% kicked. Of those children who mentioned body parts where they were hit, 26% reported being hit on the head and neck, 27% on the limbs, 11% on the back, 13% buttocks, 5% chest, 4% stomach, and 1% genitalia. In terms of the settings in which children experienced punishment, the research found that in the home 81% of children experienced physical punishment, 19% emotional punishment, while in school 69% experienced physical punishment and 31% emotional. (Beazley, H., S. Bessell, et al., 2006, What Children Say: Results of comparative research on the physical and emotional punishment of children in Southeast Asia and Pacific, 2005, Stockholm, Save the Children Sweden)

A comparative study of 10,073 children aged 9-17 years across East Asia and the Pacific by UNICEF and Research International Asia (Thailand) in 2001 found that 27% of those surveyed in Vietnam reported having been beaten by their parents. The reason for children finding it difficult to talk to teachers was given by 5% of the children as because the teachers “beat them”. (UNICEF, 2001, Speaking Out! Voices of Children and Adolescents in East Asia and the Pacific)

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

Committee on the Rights of the Child

“The Committee is concerned that children in the State party are subject to various forms of violence and ill-treatment, including child abuse and neglect, and corporal punishment.

“The Committee recommends that the State party:

e) explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in the home, schools and all other institutions;

f) 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.”
(18 March 2003, CRC/C/15/Add.200, Concluding observations on second report, paras. 33 and 34 (e and f))