Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children Ending legalised violence against children GLOBAL REPORT 2011 Inside: tables of progress in all regions – page 24 Children in Pakistan Following up the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children “… eliminating violent and humiliating punishment of children, through law reform and other necessary measures, is an immediate and unqualified obligation of States parties.” Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 8, 2006 CONTENTS Middle East and North Africa law reform workshop, Beirut, 2010 Messages ..........................................................................................2 he aims of the Global Initiative are supported by many Prohibiting all corporal punishment – progress and delay ................4 Tinternational and national organisations, including: Human rights – the driving force for prohibition ................................8 Center for Effective Child Discipline, USA Save the Children Swaziland Making corporal punishment visible – the reality for children ......... 13 Child Helpline International Save the Children Sweden Child Rights Network (CHIRN), Nigeria Save the Children UK Achieving law reform ....................................................................... 15 Child Welfare League of Canada Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), Coalition Camerounaise des ONG pour les Droits de Pakistan The work of the Global Initiative ......................................................19 l’Enfant, Cameroon Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Rights of the Child Commission on Justice, Peace and Creation, National Active campaigns ............................................................................20 Council of Churches in India Individual supporters include: Working with faith groups ................................................................23 Consortium for Street Children Shirin-Aumeeruddy-Cziffra, Ombudsperson for Children, Mauritius Defence for Children International The Honourable Mme. Justice Désirée Bernard, Judge of the Legality of corporal punishment: state by state analysis .................24 Disabled Peoples’ International Caribbean Court of Justice, Trinidad and Tobago Disability Rights International Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative to the UN ECPAT International Secretary General on children and armed conflict Eurochild His Holiness the Dalai Lama Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights Professor Doctor Yakin Ertürk, former Special Rapporteur on violence against women Human Rights Watch Målfred Grude Flekkøy, Norway’s and the world’s first Ombudsman Inclusion International for Children Instituto Interamericano del Nĩno, la Nĩna y Adolescentes Thomas Hammarberg, Human Rights Commissioner, Council of International Disability Alliance (IDA) Europe International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) Reidar Hjermann, Ombudsman for Children, Norway International Federation for Parenting Education Ms Moushira Khattab, former Vice-Chair, Committee on the Rights International Federation Terre des Hommes of the Child International Foster Care Association Professor Yanghee Lee, former Chair, Committee on the Rights of the Child International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse Professor Manfred Nowak, former Special Rapporteur on torture and Neglect (ISPCAN) and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Lisbet Palme, Sweden, former member, Committee on the Rights UK of the Child NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child Mrs Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human OMCT – World Organisation Against Torture Rights Acknowledgements Plan International The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu, Anglican Archbishop Photos from Heidi Jo Brady/Raising Voices (p. 20); Save the Children (front cover, inside front Promundo Institute, Brazil Emeritus of Cape Town cover, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17, back cover); UNICEF/DPAC (p. 12); World Vision (p. 8) Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en Mexico Professor Jean Zermatten, Chair, Committee on the Rights of the Save the Children Australia Child Save the Children Romania Designed by Simon Scott For a full list of prominent supporters, see Save the Children Spain Printed in the UK by The Russell Press Limited, Nottingham www.endcorporalpunishment.org The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children is administered by the Association for the Protection of All Children, APPROACH Ltd, PUBLISHED 2011 BY: a registered charity No. 328132. Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children www.endcorporalpunishment.org Registered office 94 White Lion Street, LONDON N1 9PF, UK. Save the Children Sweden http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se This publication is partly financed by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency). Sidaii has not taken part in its production and does not assume responsibilityEnding legalised for its content. violence against children Messages Hillary A., daughter of Texas judge WA, who gives his daughter a savage beating Law reform to prohibit violence against children is an essential component of a robust national system to protect children’s rights in an internet video viewed more than two million times, says she feels some and constitutes a decisive priority for my mandate as Special regret about uploading a video of her father belting her but that she hopes it forces Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children. him to get help…. Judge will not face police charges but has stopped presiding over A comprehensive and explicit legal ban is indispensable to convey an child abuse cases. But he said it “looks worse than it is” and later: “In my mind I unequivocal message that children’s right to freedom from violence haven’t done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught must be safeguarded everywhere and at all times; with supportive detailed provisions in specific pieces of legislation, it helps to prevent stealing.” The beating occurred not only once, but often when the daughter was and address distinct forms of violence and tackle this child rights Jean Zermatten sixteen… violation in specific settings. Children’s legal protection from violence Chair, UN Committee on the Marta Santos Pais is a core component of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child This short and true story of a person who was supposed to be a judge and to Special Representative of Rights of the Child and has been identified as a strategic goal for regional the UN Secretary General on exercise fit judgment reminds us of the reality: children continue to be victims of Violence against Children organisations and for national efforts aiming at the prevention and all kinds of punishments, under the pretext of discipline, not only in Texas, but in elimination of violence against children. The Global Initiative makes a many countries of the world – if not in all. significant contribution to this process. Its information campaigns and comprehensive periodic reports help to capture change and mobilise Despite campaigns, despite new legislation, despite calls to stop this harmful public support for children’s legal protection from violence. Joining practice … adults go on believing that they are using these sanctions for the good hands together, we can build a world where all children, without of their children, of their pupils, of the children they have to take care of in public discrimination of any kind, are protected by effective legislation and or private institutions. enjoy human rights in a violence free environment. And this despite also the fact that corporal punishment, as well as all other forms of violence against children, has been a constant concern of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child since the very beginning of its activities. I will mention the consistent Concluding Observations for the respective States parties, and the General Comment No. 8 (2006) on the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment, and As the Global Initiative reminds us the UNSG’s Study report, which references in other general comments to the topic of violence. I don’t have to say I presented to the General Assembly in 2006, set a target of 2009 that the 2006 report of the independent expert for the United Nations Study on for prohibition of all legalised violence against children. Yes this was Violence against Children (A/61/299) has made a crucial contribution; members wildly over-optimistic – but how could we justifiably be “realistic” of the Committee regularly ask States to implement the recommendations of the about the time it takes to convince governments to prohibit such Study, including to prohibit all corporal punishment. obvious human rights violations against their youngest citizens? How could we be true to children and yet condemn another whole In addition, in February 2011, the Committee issued its General Comment No. 13 generation to suffer childhoods scarred by deliberate and legalised on the Right of the Child to Freedom from All Forms of Violence. This new text is adult violence? a logical outcome of the long process from 1991 to 2011, expressing the obvious Professor Paulo concern of the Committee with regard to all forms of violence which, regrettably, Each year, these reports document frustrating delays in every region. children are the victims of. Sérgio Pinheiro