Lawfulness of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home.

Children have limited protection from violence and abuse under the Penal Code, with penalties being more severe if the offender is an older relative or a person with authority or custody of a child.

Schools

Corporal punishment is reportedly prohibited in schools, but we have no details of applicable law. There is no prohibition of corporal punishment in Law No. 96 on the Djiboutian education system (2000), which deals with formal and informal education and provides for rights and duties in teaching.

Penal system

We have been unable to ascertain the legality of corporal punishment as a sentence for crime. Under the Constitution (1992) all persons have a right to personal integrity (article 10); no one should be submitted to torture, cruelties, or inhuman, cruel, degrading or humiliating treatment and any individual, agent of the state or public authority guilty of inflicting such treatment will be punished according to the law (article 16).

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

Alternative care

No information.

Workplace

No information.

Prevalence research

None identified.

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

Committee on the Rights of the Child

"While the Committee takes note of the State party's indication that corporal punishment has been forbidden in schools and that the Educational Plan of Action 2006-2008 lauds the implementation of measures prohibiting corporal punishment the Committee is concerned that children are still subjected to corporal punishment, particularly in the home.

"The Committee recommends that the State party explicitly prohibit by law all forms of violence against children, including corporal punishment, in all settings, including in the family, schools, alternative childcare and places of detention, and implement those laws effectively. It also recommends that the State party intensify its awareness-raising campaigns in order to promote the use of alternative forms of discipline in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity and in accordance with the Convention, 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 (CRC/C/GC/8, 2006)."

(3 October 2008, CRC/C/DJI/CO/2 Unedited Version, Concluding observations on second report, paras. 35 and 36)