On 3 October 2019, the Scottish Parliament adopted the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act in a historic move which sees Scotland becoming the first nation in the United Kingdom to provide children with equal protection from assault. Section 1 of the Act, which was introduced by Green MSP John Finnie, repeals section 51 […]
Updated 31 October 2019 to clarify the roles of our national partners On 18 September 2019, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that the common law defence of ‘reasonable and moderate chastisement’ was unconstitutional, effectively banning all corporal punishment of children. The Children’s Institute, the Peace Centre and Sonke Gender Justice were respondents […]
All states have an obligation to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment of children. Those which are yet to do so often publicly express a political commitment to achieve prohibition, but we have noticed that some of those ‘committed’ states have made no progress in realising this commitment or have since backtracked on it. Commitment […]
Our African newsletters are published quarterly in English and French, providing a round-up of recent developments, campaigns and positive moves towards ending corporal punishment from across the continent. This latest edition also presents new resources to support advocacy on the issue, as well as information from African and UN human rights monitoring bodies, including new […]
The Global Initiative welcomes the entry into force of the Child Care and Protection Act 2015 in January 2019 by notice in the gazette. The Child Care and Protection Act 2015 replaces the Children’s Act No. 33 1960, repealing the statutory right of parents to “punish and to exercise discipline” and prohibiting corporal punishment of […]