Countdown to universal prohibition
Prohibited in all settings.
Government committed to full prohibition.
Prohibited in some settings.
Not fully prohibited in any setting.Good news ...
Global progress towards achieving prohibition of all corporal punishment of children in all settings is accelerating worldwide, particularly in the context of follow up to the UN Study on Violence Against Children. 53 states have now achieved prohibition of corporal punishment in all settings, including the home; a further 56 states are committed to achieving a complete legal ban.
States prohibiting all corporal punishment of children, including in the home
2017 - Lithuania
2016 - Mongolia, Montenegro, Paraguay, Slovenia
2014 - Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Estonia, Malta, Nicaragua, San Marino
2013 - Cabo Verde, Honduras, TFYR Macedonia
2011 - South Sudan
2010 - Albania, Congo (Republic of), Kenya, Poland, Tunisia
2008 - Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Republic of Moldova
2007 - Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Togo, Uruguay, Venezuela
2006 - Greece
pre-2006 - Austria (1989), Bulgaria (2000), Croatia (1999), Cyprus (1994), Denmark (1997), Finland (1983), Germany (2000), Hungary (2005), Iceland (2003), Israel (2000), Latvia (1998), Norway (1987), Romania (2004), Sweden (1979), Turkmenistan (2002), Ukraine (2004)
Territories prohibiting all corporal punishment of children, including in the home
Aruba (Netherlands), Curaçao (Netherlands), Faroe Islands (Denmark), Greenland (Denmark), Pitcairn Islands (UK), St Maarten (Netherlands), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)
Progress is also being made in prohibiting corporal punishment outside the home. To date, corporal punishment is fully prohibited in schools in 131 states, in penal institutions in 139 states and as a sentence for crime in 165 states. In alternative care settings and day care, corporal punishment is fully prohibited in 60 states.
But still there is a long way to go. Still, only 10% of the world's children are fully protected in law from all corporal punishment. And still, so long since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the statute books in far too many countries at best fail to prohibit corporal punishment of children, at worst specifically authorise corporal punishment of children and set out the details of how it should be inflicted.
Bad news ...
Prohibiting all corporal punishment of children in the home and all other settings is a well established obligation under international human rights law, but incredibly there are still 89 states where governments have not yet made a public commitment to law reform, and in 68 states, corporal punishment has not been fully prohibited in schools.
In the following 34 states, corporal punishment - whipping, flogging, caning - is still lawful under state, traditional and/or religious law as a sentence for crimes committed by juveniles:
Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Colombia, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kiribati, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, State of Palestine, Tonga, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, UR Tanzania, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zimbabwe