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Hot off the Press –
11 March 2009: Moldova prohibits all corporal punishment of children
Moldova has prohibited corporal punishment
of children in all settings, including the family home. They have amended
their Family Code to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment by parents and
others with parental authority.
The new Article 53 of the code covers "the right of the child to be
protected" and states in paragraph 4 that the child "has the right to be
protected against abuses, including corporal punishment by parents or
persons who replace them". Article 62 concerns parents' rights and states in
paragraph 2 that "methods to educate children, chosen by parents, will
exclude abusive behaviour, insults and ill-treatments of all types,
discrimination, psychological and physical violence, corporal punishment
...".
Moldova now joins the 18 other Council of Europe member states with a total
ban on corporal punishment to make a total of nineteen.
New
publication from the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of
Children.
Prohibiting corporal punishment of children: A guide to legal reform and
other measures is a new guide to legal reform to support states in
prohibiting all corporal punishment of children. It details the legislative
measures states should take to meet their obligations to prohibit corporal
punishment under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. See also new
section on the Global Initiative website dedicated to
legal reform.
December
2007: Spain joined the 17 other Council of Europe member states which
have totally abolished corporal punishment of children, raising the number
of countries to do so to 18. Spain enacted legislation which prohibits
all corporal punishment of children, including by parents. Civil Code
provisions which recognised the right of parents to punish or correct
children in the name of discipline were amended and children now have
the same protection from assault from adults. The Spanish "right to punish"
was repealed and replaced by an obligation on those with parental
responsibility, in exercising that responsibility, to respect the physical
and psychological integrity of their children.
2007: In Complaint No.
34/2006/World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) v Portugal, The European
Committee of Social Rights concluded that Portugal was in violation
of Article 17 or the revised Charter for "failure to prohibit and penalise in
all forms of violence against children ..." . Since the ECSR decision,
Portugal has modified its penal code to reflect full prohibition, thus
joining the 16 other member states which protect their children from the
humiliation of corporal punishment.
February 2008: The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers has
taken note of Portugal's compliance with Article 17 of the revised Social
Charter: See
press release. See
CM Resolution Res/ChS (2008)4 on Complaint No. 34/2006 by the World
Organization against Torture (OMCT) against Portugal.
Corporal punishment of children
is prohibited in all settings (home, schools, penal systems, alternative
care) in 19 out of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states: Austria,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Latvia, Moldova Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Romania, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine.
Detailed information is found on the online
appendices to
Eliminating corporal punishment of children –
A human rights imperative for
Europe’s children. These are updated with the
assistance of the
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. Between
updates, major changes are reported here.
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