Global Pathways to Abolishing Physical Punishment

Realizing Children's Rights

Joan E. Durrant, Anne B. Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781136886348
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

This book describes the unfolding of a global phenomenon: the legal prohibition of physical punishment of children. Until thirty years ago, this near-universal practice was considered appropriate, necessary and a parental right. But a paradigm shift in conceptions of childhood has led to a global movement to redefine it as violence and as a violation of children's rights. Today, many countries have prohibited it in all settings, including the home. This remarkable shift reflects profound cultural changes in thinking about children and their development, parent-child relationships, and the role of the state in family life. It has involved actors in many sectors, including academia, government, non-governmental organizations and children themselves. Documenting the stories of countries that have either prohibited corporal punishment of children or who are moving in that direction, this volume will serve as a sourcebook for scholars and advocates around the world who are interested in the many dimensions of physical punishment and its elimination.

Part I
The Rationale for Eliminating Physical Punishment of Children

1 Introduction to the Global Movement to Ban Physical Punishment of Children

Anne B. Smith and Joan E. Durrant

All inputs change the potential future. That we no longer hang children, burn them as witches or brand them as vagrants is not the victory of a few reformers, it is the victory of a whole society which has overcome the constructions that made such actions possible. The killings and maimings of children that our society still generates can also be consigned to the history book—by the same processes which have made possible the worlds in which we now live.

(Stainton Rogers, 1989, p. 29)

The rights of children to protection from sexual abuse, neglect, discrimination, and exploitation are reasonably well accepted and uncontroversial. There is one right, however, which still remains extraordinarily controversial in many places: the child’s right to protection from physical violence in the family when it takes the form of physical punishment.¹ Historically, most societies have rejected the idea that children have the same fundamental right to protection as adults. We have failed to give children equal respect and protection under the law and, in doing so, have put many of their other rights at risk.

This book, however, marks a historic turning point. Three important anniversaries took place while this book was being written: the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights; the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the 30th anniversary of the world’s first ban on all physical punishment of children. These events have led many people all over the world to reflect on the state of children’s rights—to recognize how far we have progressed, and how far we have yet to go.

Until 30 years ago, the near-universal practice of hitting children was considered appropriate, necessary, and a parental right in every country of the world. Children, like women historically, have been considered to belong to the private world of the family rather than participants in public life, which has justified their different and unequal treatment, and the non-recognition of their citizenship rights. But just as the women’s movement has helped make domestic violence towards women anathema in many parts of the world, so the current movement to uphold children’s rights has energized changes to policies and laws to make violence against children equally unacceptable in many countries. Nevertheless, the belief that governments should not meddle in private family matters continues to be a major barrier to such changes. While physical punishment of students is no longer allowed in the schools of most countries, lack of respect for children’s physical integrity within the confi nes of the family has been harder to challenge. In many places, the debate about physical punishment continues to be framed in terms of parents’ rights to treat their children as they see fit. This book shows, however, that the world is moving to a greater recognition that children too have rights, and that it is possible to uphold for children the same right that adults take for granted—not to be assaulted or hurt by others.

At the time of this book’s publication, 29 countries have prohibited all physical punishment of children: Austria, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Kenya, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Venezuela. (See www.endcorporalpunishment.org for the legal status of physical punishment in all countries, continuously updated.) In addition, High Courts in Italy and Nepal have ruled that physical punishment in childrearing is unlawful. Many other countries, such as Lithuania and Serbia, are committed to full prohibition and are in the process of bringing it about.

This is an astonishing rate of change that signals a paradigm shift in conceptions of childhood, and a redefinition of physical punishment as violence and a violation of children’s rights to physical integrity and dignity. But the stories telling why and how these changes have been taking place are very rarely heard. In this book, individuals who have been witness to this movement in countries around the globe describe the process of change—in some cases successful, in others stalled—to help us better understand the underpinnings and trajectory of this social movement. To provide a foundation for understanding the motive for change in these countries, this book first provides an examination of the three main rationales for prohibition: (1) human rights; (2) theoretical; and (3) empirical.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC; 1989) and other human rights instruments have been powerful forces in confronting this issue. In its Preamble, the CRC states that children “should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding”. Article 19 requires “measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence” and Article 37 requires states to ensure that no child is subjected to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. In its General Comment No. 8 (2006), the Committee on the Rights of the Child explicitly states that corporal punishment conflicts with children’s rights to dignity and physical integrity, that it is incompatible with children’s best interests, and that ratifying countries² are obligated to eliminate it (paras. 2, 3, 21, 26). In Chapter 2, Peter Newell documents the origins of these instruments, how they have been interpreted in domestic and international arenas, and their role in facilitating global change.

The human rights imperative is becoming increasingly resonant with evolving theories of childhood, which accord respect, dignity, rights, and personhood to children. Constructions of childhood have important implications for the actions that societies take for and against children, and for children’s survival and quality of life. Considering children as the possessions of their parents to be moulded into a form of the parents’ choosing, makes it easier to justify the pain and indignity of physical punishment. But positioning children as partners in improving their lives and viewing them as social actors recognizes their status as persons in their own right, deserving of respect and able to contribute to their own families and societies. In Chapter 3, Anne Smith presents several major theories that explain the impact of physical punishment on children’s development, from traditional learning theories to critical theories of childhood.

The growing base of social science research demonstrating that physical punishment predicts negative long-term outcomes, whether measured in terms of social, emotional, intellectual, or physical development, shows a degree of consistency that is unusual in the social sciences. These findings have helped to clarify for decision makers the reasons why it is so important—at individual, family, and societal levels—to eliminate physical punishment from children’s lives. Yet, in many places, this large body of research continues to be ignored, overlooked or resisted. In Chapter 4, Joan Durrant provides an overview of this research and explores its relevance to the human rights and theoretical foundations of prohibition.

In the second section of the book, the stories of 18 countries and 1 continent are told by writers who were (or are) “on the ground” as their governments took on the challenge of prohibition. They include academics, lawyers, educators, clinicians, program directors of non-governmental organizations, researchers, a pediatrician, and an advisor to a Children’s Ombudsman. Their cases were selected to represent as many regions of the world as possible, as well as a wide range of cultural contexts, political systems, levels of industrialization, and approaches to law reform. Of the 19 cases, 11 have prohibited all physical punishment of children. Their stories describe how the issue emerged, the forces that promoted and resisted law reform, and how families have been supported in their efforts to raise their children without violence. The remaining 8 cases remain at various places along the pathway to prohibition. Their stories describe their progress towards prohibition, barriers to achieving it, the lessons they have learned and their plans for the future.

Most of these stories have not been heard before. They provide valuable cultural and historical lessons about the factors that drive and inhibit social change towards a world where children’s right to protection is affirmed.

Our aims are to provide a better understanding of how the movement to abolish physical punishment of children has unfolded, and to document this historic movement and the social policy changes accompanying it, as it spreads around the globe.

The third section of the book ties these stories together. In Chapter 24, Kai-D. Bussman, Claudia Erthal, and Andreas Schroth present the findings of the first multi-country study to assess the impact of law reform. Its findings provide useful answers to the question of whether law reform is necessary and/or sufficient to promote attitudinal and behavioral changes. The book concludes with a chapter summarizing what has been learned from the movement so far, highlighting the commonalities and differences among countries’ approaches and outcomes, and identifying pathways to the global elimination of physical punishment of children.

Although this book is about research, history, law, policy, and social change, it was born from a recognition of how children feel when they are intentionally hurt by those entrusted with their care. As expressed by a 12-year-old, “Being smacked is like being treated like something very little and not important to the rest of the world” (Saunders & Goddard, 2010, p. 153). The contributors to this book collectively assert the value and worth of children as persons and citizens with rights, who are entitled to special care, dignity, happiness, love, and freedom from the physical and emotional pain of physical punishment.

NOTES

1. Physical or corporal punishment has been defined as “any punishment in which the use of physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light” (Paragraph 11, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2006).

2. All countries of the world, except the United States and Somalia, have ratified the CRC.

REFERENCES

Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2006). General Comment No. 8: The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment. Retrieved from www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CRC.C.GC.8.En?OpenDocument(Symbol)/CRC.C.GC.8.En?OpenDocument

Saunders, B., & Goddard, C. (2010). Physical punishment in childhood: The rights of the child. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Stainton Rogers, R. (1989). The social construction of childhood, in W. Stainton Rogers, D. Hevery, J. B. Roche & E. Ash (Eds.), Child abuse and neglect: Facing the challenge (pp. 23–29). Batsford: London.

United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r025.htm

2 The Human Rights Imperative to Eliminate Physical Punishment

Peter Newell

Corporal punishment is a direct assault on the human dignity of the child and a direct invasion of the child’s physical integrity. Respect for human dignity is the foundation of human rights, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and successive core human rights instruments.

The universality of rights is expressed in all the early human rights instruments—the Universal Declaration, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the two International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The particular purpose of the Convention on the R...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• BOXES, FIGURES, AND TABLES
• FOREWORD
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• PART I: THE RATIONALE FOR ELIMINATING PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN
• PART II: STORIES OF PROGRESS TOWARDS PROHIBITION
• PART III: LESSONS LEARNED AND PATHWAYS TO THE FUTURE
• CONTRIBUTORS