A great deal of legislative reform has been undertaken, and continues to be carried out, in the Pacific Islands. This new briefing from the Global Initiative and UNICEF highlights the immediate human rights obligations to prohibit all violent punishment of children in the 16 member states of the Pacific Islands Forum. It charts the progress made to date in achieving prohibition and the law reform that is still necessary in order to fully protect children from all corporal punishment. Aiming to promote national action for prohibition, the leaflet crucially identifies immediate opportunities for drafting and introducing national prohibiting legislation.

Moving swiftly from discussion to action is key. National attention to corporal punishment (e.g. through government consultations, new research, media reports, etc) can be used to promote prohibition: proposals for law reform must be made and followed through. But it is not necessary to consult on the issue, nor is it justifiable to wait for public attitudes to change before reforming the law. Children have an immediate right to protection.

The briefing is to be launched at the Pacific Islands Countries Conference on Violence against Children, Fiji, 18-20 May 2015.

The leaflet is available here.

A limited number of hard copies is available for advocacy purposes, email info@endcorporalpunishment.org.