The Human Rights Council has adopted the final working group reports for the Universal Periodic Review’s 31^st session, which included states’ formal responses to all recommendations extended. States can either ‘support’ (accept) or ‘note’ UPR recommendations.

• China, Mauritius and Mexico supported recommendations to prohibit all corporal punishment of children.
• Malaysia noted several recommendations on the abolition of judicial corporal punishment and gave partial support to a recommendation to “strengthen its national legislation with respect to the prevention of torture and ill-treatment and the elimination of the practice of whipping and caning” and to “continue efforts to combat child abuse, including through the elimination of caning in education facilities”. Commenting on judicial corporal punishment, Malaysia highlighted that “corporal punishment as prescribed under its domestic laws will only be executed when a person is found guilty and convicted by the Courts”.
• Similarly, Saudi Arabia noted a recommendation to abolish corporal punishment and gave partial support to a recommendation to abolish all corporal punishment of children and another to abolish judicial corporal punishment of children.
• The Central African Republic noted without comments a recommendation to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in all settings.
• Congo (Republic of) supported recommendations to take measures to prevent and address corporal punishment of children in all settings. Prohibition of all corporal punishment of children was enacted there in 2010.

For further details, see the Global Initiative’s news item on the initial outcomes of the 31^st session of the Universal Periodic Review. See also the individual country reports of states reviewed in the 31^st session: Belize, the Central African Republic, Chad, China, Congo (Republic of), Jordan, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Senegal.