Concluding observations from the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child’s 29^th session have been published. Although the examination of Sierra Leone was postponed to a later session, the remaining four states under examination received recommendations on corporal punishment of children:

• To Chad, the Committee recommended prohibition in all settings, including the home, and the promotion of awareness-raising campaigns on positive parenting.
• The Committee expressed concern at the legality of “light” punishment in Comoros and recommended that the legal defence in the Criminal Code is repealed and prohibition in all settings, including the home, is enacted.
• To Côte d’Ivoire, the Committee recommended the effective implementation of the ban in schools and the enactment of legislation prohibiting corporal punishment in the home.
• Finally, the Committee expressed concern at the legality and scale of corporal punishment of children in schools in the United Republic of Tanzania, and recommended that the Education Act is amended to prohibit it fully. It further recommended that corporal punishment is prohibited in the home, in foster care centres and detention centres, and that wide-scale awareness-raising campaigns are implemented on the negative effects of corporal punishment and to promote positive discipline.

For further details, see the Global Initiative’s individual country reports for Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, and UR Tanzania.

For further information on the obligation to prohibit corporal punishment under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and to see the Committee’s recommendations in full, see the Global Initiative’s page on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.