During its 78^th session which finished earlier this month, the Committee on the Rights of the Child examined five states on their implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All of them received recommendations on corporal punishment:

• To Angola, which had declared that corporal punishment of children “when administered by an official in any setting” was a crime, the Committee expressed concern that its previous recommendations to prohibit had not been implemented and reminded the Government that despite its declarations Angolan legislation did not explicitly prohibit corporal punishment of children. The Committee requested that urgent measures are taken on the issue, recommending that corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited in all settings.
• The Committee recommended that Lesotho enact prohibition of corporal punishment in all settings. It also recommended that the existing prohibition in schools is effectively enforced with a complaints mechanism being set up in schools, that programmes for parents, teachers and other professionals on alternative non-violent forms of discipline and public awareness-raising campaigns are set up, and that a national database on cases of corporal punishment of children is established.
• The Committee welcomed the prohibition in Montenegro but expressed concern that the legislation did not include a clear definition of corporal punishment and that there were no enforcement mechanisms. It recommended that the prohibition is adequately monitored and enforced, including by clearly defining corporal punishment in legislation and ensuring legal proceedings are initiated against offenders. It also recommended several other implementation measures, including the development of a code of conduct for teachers, the creation of a complaints mechanism in schools, and the strengthening of awareness-raising campaigns.

To Argentina and Norway, which have already achieved prohibition, the Committee recommended the adequate monitoring and enforcement of the ban and the promotion of positive, non-violent and participatory forms of child discipline.

For further details, see the Global Initiative’s individual country reports for Angola, Argentina, Lesotho, Montenegro, and Norway.

For further information on the obligation to prohibit corporal punishment under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to see the Committee’s recommendations in full, see the Global Initiative’s page on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.