Concluding observations from the 30^th session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child’s in December 2017 have been published. Both states reviewed received recommendations to prohibit all corporal punishment of children:

• The Committee noted that corporal punishment was still “highly practiced” in Angola and recommended that the Government enact legislation prohibiting corporal punishment in all settings. The Committee also recommended that Angola take measures to train teachers and parents on positive discipline.
• To Sierra Leone, the Committee expressed concern at the prevalence of corporal punishment in the home and schools and the express legality of “reasonable punishment” under the Child Rights Act. The Committee recommended that the Government repeal this defence for “reasonable punishment” in order to “completely prohibit corporal punishment in all settings.”

For further details, see the Global Initiative’s individual reports for Angola and Sierra Leone.

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.