09Nov, 2014

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Committee on the Rights of the Child’s new joint general recommendation/general comment on harmful practices

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have issued a new joint general recommendation/general comment on harmful practices, which states that corporal punishment has been recognised as a harmful practice. The general recommendation/general comment identifies harmful practices as those which constitute a denial of […]

07Nov, 2014

Human Rights Committee recommends prohibition of corporal punishment in all settings

At its 112th session (7-31 October 2014), the Human Rights Committee raised the issue of corporal punishment of children with the Governments of Burundi, Haiti, Malta, Montenegro and Sri Lanka. Following examination of each of these states, the Committee made the following remarks and recommendations in its concluding observations: To Burundi, the Committee expressed concern at […]

05Nov, 2014

Children protected from all corporal punishment in Estonia

Another European state has joined the list of those where corporal punishment of children is prohibited in all settings, including the home. The Estonian Parliament has enacted the Child Welfare Act 2014, which prohibits corporal punishment in article 24 (unofficial translation): “(1) It is prohibited to neglect a child, to mentally, emotionally, physically or sexually […]

04Nov, 2014

Updated briefing illustrates progress and delay in Africa

Six African states have achieved prohibition of corporal punishment of children in all settings, including the family home. But only 8.5% of children in Africa are protected in law from all corporal punishment, while more than a quarter are not protected in any setting of their lives. These facts and many more are graphically illustrated […]

06Oct, 2014

Landmark law passed in Argentina

In a ceremony held on 7 October 2014 in the Bicentennial Museum, Buenos Aires, the President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner promulgated the new Civil and Commercial Code, which will come into force in January 2016. Article 647 of the Code explicitly prohibits all corporal punishment of children (unofficial translation): “All forms of corporal […]

05Oct, 2014

New briefing on progress towards prohibition in Latin America

The past six months have seen three Latin American states enact prohibition of all corporal punishment, bringing the number of states in the region in which children are legally protected from violent punishment in all settings of their lives to seven. Governments in at least a further six states have expressed a commitment to law […]

04Oct, 2014

New report highlights opportunities for prohibition in West and Central Africa

West and Central Africa is home to nearly 237 million children. Of these, 96.5% live in states where they are not legally protected from corporal punishment in the family home and other settings. The Global Initiative’s new report, published jointly with Plan International and Save the Children, reviews progress towards prohibition of corporal punishment of […]

08Sep, 2014

New UNICEF reports make violent punishment visible

A major new UNICEF report, Hidden in Plain Sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children, highlights that violent discipline is the most common form of violence against children and that more than two billion children worldwide are not legally protected from all corporal punishment. Emphasizing that violent discipline violates children’s rights as set forth in […]

07Sep, 2014

Sixth African state prohibits all corporal punishment of children

The Law on Children and Adolescents 2013, in force 2014, states in article 31 (unofficial translation): “(1) The family must provide a loving and safe environment that allows the full development of children and adolescents and protects them from any actions affecting their personal integrity. (2) In exercising the right to correction parents must always […]

06Sep, 2014

Global Initiative e-newsletter issue 28 (September 2014)

Major new developments reported in the latest issue of the Global Initiative’s newsletter include prohibition of all corporal punishment in Brazil and Bolivia, a meeting of regional inter-governmental organisations which promoted prohibition and a major new UNICEF report which makes the scale of violent punishment of children visible. It gives news of regional developments in […]