National High-level Court Judgments on Corporal Punishment
There have been a number of rulings and statements by national high-level courts concerning corporal punishment, its constitutionality and/or its non-compliance with international human rights treaties. The majority of these clearly condemn corporal punishment in one or more settings; a minority are less conclusive. In many cases, the rulings have been followed by law reform to ensure that national legislation prohibits corporal punishment.
This section of the website summarises the judgments and provides links to the full texts where available. Full details of the legal status of corporal punishment of children in each of the states are available in the individual country reports.
Judgments clearly condemning corporal punishment
- 2024 - South Africa 2024 Supreme Court of Appeal Judgment
- 2021 - Sri Lanka Supreme Court judgment
- 2019 - South Africa - Constitutional Court judgment
- 2019 - Zimbabwe - Constitutional Court judgment
- 2017 - South Africa - High Court judgment
- 2017 - Zimbabwe - High Court judgment
- 2014 - Zimbabwe - High Court judgment
- 2011 - Bangladesh - Supreme Court judgment
- 2005 - Costa Rica - Criminal Court of Cassation judgment
- 2005 - Nepal - Supreme Court judgment
- 2002 - Fiji - High Court judgment
- 2000 - India - Delhi Supreme Court judgment
- 2000 - Israel - 2000 Supreme Court judgment
- 2000 - South Africa - Constitutional Court judgment
- 1999 - Zambia - High Court judgment
- 1996 - Italy - Supreme Court judgment
- 1994 - South Africa - Constitutional Court judgment
- 1991 - Namibia - Supreme Court judgment
- 1989 - Zimbabwe - Supreme Court judgment
- 1987 - Zimbabwe - Supreme Court judgment