Biennial global conference
Held in Malta, 30 May - 1 June 2018
On 31 May - 1 June 2018, the High Level Global Conference on the Universal Prohibition of Corporal Punishment was held in Malta, organised under the patronage of Her Excellency Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta (2014-2019).
The conference provided an opportunity for participating UN Member States, international organisations and civil society representatives to come together and reinforce the commitment they took in adopting the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Target 16.2 to end all forms of violence against children.
The event included keynote addresses and panel and roundtable discussions with leading experts in the field, and participants had an opportunity over the two days to share insights and experiences of working to end corporal punishment globally.
This conference was the third of its kind - the first was held by the Swedish Government in 2014 and the second by the Austrian Government in 2016 - aiming to grow support and strive for a world without corporal punishment and violence against children. The Tunisian Government has agreed to host the next conference in 2020.
Ahead of the Conference, the Global Initiative and The President's Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society published a special report outlining progress towards universal prohibition and elimination of all corporal punishment and how the new Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 provides an additional context to speed progress.
Designed to support action, the report highlights 12 ways in which states can work collaboratively towards universal prohibition of violent punishment, how to use opportunities at national level to achieve prohibition and the importance of involving children and young people in all initiatives to end violence against them.
In October 2019, as we prepare to hand over responsibility for the 2020 Conference to the Tunisian Government, the Global Initiative and The Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society (formally The President's Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society) published a report on the High Level Global Conference in Malta in 2018.
The report includes extracts from speeches, details of the panel and roundtable discussions, statements from a consultation with children and young people in Malta, the Declaration adopted at the Conference and the list of signatories to the Declaration.
Read more
- Concept note for the High Level Global Conference in Malta 2018
- Keynote address by Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children (2009-2019)
- Closing remarks by Her Excellency Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta (2014-2019)
- Our special report for the 2016 Conference hosted by the Austrian Government
- Our special report for the 2014 Conference hosted by the Swedish Government