Committee Against Torture, session 44 (2010)
RECOMMENDATIONS/OBSERVATIONS ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE'S CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS TO STATES EXAMINED IN SESSION 44 (26 APRIL - 14 MAY 2010)
Switzerland
(25 May 2010, CAT/C/CHE/CO/6, Concluding observations on sixth report, para. 23)
"While taking note of information supplied by the State party, according to which the jurisprudence of the Federal Tribunal confirms the ban on corporal punishment, including for educational purposes, and that corporal punishment is also covered by article 126 (2) of the Criminal Code, the Committee notes with concern that corporal punishment is not specifically prohibited under the legislation of the State party (art. 16).
The State party should specifically prohibit corporal punishment in its legislation. To that end, the Committee urges the State party to relaunch the 06.419 Vermont-Mangold parliamentary initiative, aimed at enacting legislation to protect children from corporal punishment and other affronts to their dignity, which was shelved by Parliament. The Committee also calls upon the State party to carry out public-awareness campaigns on the negative effects of violence against children, especially corporal punishment."
Yemen
(25 May 2010, CAT/C/YEM/CO/2/Rev.1, Concluding observations on second report, para. 18)
"The Committee remains concerned that certain criminal sanctions (or hadd penalties) such as floggings, beatings and even amputation of limbs are still prescribed by law and practised in the State party, in violation of the Convention. The Committee is also concerned at reports that courts across the country impose sentences of flogging almost daily for alleged alcohol and sexual offences, and that such floggings are carried out immediately, in public, without appeal. It is also concerned at the wide discretionary powers of judges to impose these sanctions and that they may be imposed in a discriminatory way against different groups, including women (arts. 1, 2 and 16).
The State party should put an end immediately to such practices and modify its legislation accordingly, especially with regard to the discriminatory effects of such criminal sanctions on different groups, including women, in order to ensure its full compatibility with the Convention."