On 17 August 2016, the Paraguayan National Congress approved the Law on Promotion of Good Treatment, Positive Parenting and Protection of Children and Adolescents against Corporal Punishment or Any Type of Violence as a Method of Correction or Discipline (Ley de Promoción del Buen Trato, Crianza Positiva y de Protección a Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes […]
On 10 December 2015, the Peruvian Congress approved by a near unanimous vote (74 in favour, one abstention) the Law prohibiting the use of physical and other humiliating punishment against children and adolescents (“Ley que prohibe el uso del castigo físico y humillante contra los niños, niñas y adolescents”). This reform makes Peru the 9th […]
Latin America is making remarkable progress towards prohibiting all corporal punishment of children. Eight of the 19 Latin American states have now enacted legislation which protects children from corporal punishment in all settings, including the home; prohibition is actively under discussion in others. And while globally just 9% of children are fully protected in law […]
Nicaragua has become the eighth state in Latin America to achieve law reform to fully prohibit children from corporal punishment in the home and all other settings. Following quickly on from reform in Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia this year, the Nicaraguan National Assembly approved the new Family Code 2014, which states in article 280 (unofficial […]
In a ceremony held on 7 October 2014 in the Bicentennial Museum, Buenos Aires, the President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner promulgated the new Civil and Commercial Code, which will come into force in January 2016. Article 647 of the Code explicitly prohibits all corporal punishment of children (unofficial translation): “All forms of corporal […]
The past six months have seen three Latin American states enact prohibition of all corporal punishment, bringing the number of states in the region in which children are legally protected from violent punishment in all settings of their lives to seven. Governments in at least a further six states have expressed a commitment to law […]
On 17 July 2014, the President of Bolivia signed into law a new Children and Adolescents Code for the country. The Code explicitly prohibits all corporal punishment of children, including in the home. Article 146 provides for the “right to good treatment”, stating (unofficial translation): The child and adolescent has the right to good treatment, […]