07.06.05
Urgent Interventions
Landmark ruling puts Europe on fast track to corporal punishment free zone
PRESS RELEASE
Landmark ruling puts Europe on fast track to corporal punishment free zone
Geneva, 7th June 2005
More than a third of European countries now prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the home, following landmark human rights decisions in the Council of Europe. In these countries, hitting children is as unlawful as hitting anyone else.
Responding to human rights complaints brought against five countries, in compliance with the European Committee of Social Rights’ report, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has confirmed that supreme court judgments in Italy and Portugal do prohibit all corporal punishment. This means that 16 of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe have taken this step (see notes for details of the decisions).
But the Committee found that Belgium, Greece and Ireland are in breach of their human rights obligations under the European Social Charter because they have not prohibited all corporal punishment. Article 17 of the Charter requires a prohibition in legislation against any form of violence against children, whether at school, in other institutions, in their home or elsewhere.
The government of Greece has signalled that it will legislate quickly to comply with the ruling, and Belgium and Ireland are expected to soon act on the Committee's decision and legislate to abolish all corporal punishment. Other European countries - including the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic - have already announced they will take this step this year following other domestic and international human rights pressure.
The Committee's rulings are the result of complaints submitted in 2003 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). OMCT made the case that the law in these countries failed to protect children from corporal punishment and other humiliating treatment or punishment.
Eric Sottas, Director of OMCT, said: "We welcome these ground-breaking decisions which should speed up moves to give children throughout Europe the same right to protection from being hit or humiliated as adults enjoy. They put Europe on the fast-track to becoming a corporal punishment free zone where children's human right to equal protection is respected."
Commenting on the Committee's decisions that all corporal punishment is already prohibited in Italy and Portugal, Mr Sottas said: “We welcome the Committee's clarification that the law in these countries does protect children from all corporal punishment. But research commissioned for us in both countries suggests that more than half the population believes it is lawful to hit children, and a very high proportion still think it acceptable to do so. We hope the Italian and Portuguese governments will ensure through public education that parents and children know that it is unlawful to hit children.”
Peter Clarke, President of the European Network of Ombudspeople for Children (ENOC) and Children's Commissioner for Wales, said: “These decisions are a big step towards fulfilling the right of all Europe's children to equal protection from being hit. They underline the human rights obligations of states in the region - including my country the UK - to prohibit all corporal punishment in the family.”
Peter Newell, Co-ordinator of the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, said: “The human rights pressure is now overwhelming. It's shaming that children have had to wait until last for equal legal protection from being hit and humiliated. We should now see quick progress across the continent.”
Only a small number of European countries have signed up to the Social Charter complaints procedure used against Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. But all states which have accepted the Social Charter have to submit regular progress reports to the Committee of Social Rights. Since 2003, the Committee has concluded that France, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey are in breach of article 17 for not prohibiting all corporal punishment (of these, Hungary and Romania have since changed their laws, and the Slovak Republic and Slovenia are committed to doing so soon.)
In addition, there is also strong pressure for reform from the United Nations. All European states have accepted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires them to protect children from "all forms of physical or mental violence" while in the care of parents or others. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors states' compliance with the UN Convention, has told many European states that their obligations require that they prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the family.
The UN Secretary-General has launched a study on violence against children, headed by Paulo Pinheiro. A European consultation will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 5–7 July 2005, where satisfying UN and European human rights obligations to abolish all corporal punishment will be a key theme.
For further information please contact:
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
Tony Samphier +44 208 671 2911
Peter Newell +44 208 889 9034
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) +41 22 809 49 39
Eric Sottas (director) or Cécile Trochu (Child Rights Programme Manager)
Further information on the Committee of Ministers’ decisions and corporal punishment in Europe
Findings of the European Committee of Social Rights, May-June 2005
PORTUGAL AND ITALY: The Committee accepted the governments' arguments that the law, as interpreted by Supreme Court decisions in those countries in recent years, does prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the family.
BELGIUM: The Committee concludes that none of the provisions in the Constitution, the Criminal Code or the Civil Code is adequate to effectively prohibit all corporal punishment. The Committee notes that a Bill to explicitly prohibit all corporal punishment is currently before the Belgian Senate.
GREECE: The Committee concludes that article 17 of the Charter is violated because there is no prohibition of all forms of violence against children within the family. While corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited in primary schools, there is no explicit prohibition in secondary schools (Greece has already remedied this by reforming its education law) and there is no clear prohibition of all forms of violence in other institutions and forms of care.
IRELAND: The Committee notes that the corporal punishment of children within the home is permitted in Ireland by the existence of the common law defence of "reasonable chastisement": "Although the criminal law will protect children from very serious violence within the home, the fact remains that certain forms of violence are permitted. The Committee therefore holds that the situation is in violation of Article 17 of the Revised Charter." The Committee also notes that children in foster care, residential care and certain child minding settings are not adequately protected against corporal punishment, in violation of Article 17. While there are guidelines, standards, registration schemes and inspections, these do not have the force of law.
Progress across Europe
Law reform to prohibit corporal punishment of children in the family began in Sweden in 1957, when a criminal law provision excusing parents who caused minor injuries to their children in the course of punishment was repealed. In 1979 Sweden became the first state to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment and other humiliating treatment of children, in its Parenthood and Guardianship Code. This put beyond doubt that the criminal law on assault applied fully and equally to punitive assaults on children by their parents. To date, 14 European states have introduced explicit abolition: Sweden (1979), Finland (1983), Norway (1987), Austria (1989), Cyprus (1994), Denmark (1997), Latvia (1998), Croatia (1999), Bulgaria (2000), Germany (2000), Iceland (2003), Hungary (2004), Romania (2004), and Ukraine (2004). In Italy, in 1996 the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome declared that all corporal punishment was unlawful and Portugal's Supreme Court issued a similar judgment in 1994; neither has confirmed these decisions explicitly in legislation, however the Committee of Social Rights accepts that these judgments meet the requirements of the European Social Charter.
The governments of the Netherlands, Slovak Republic and Slovenia have announced that they will prohibit all corporal punishment.
Corporal punishment free zone
In June 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe overwhelmingly adopted a recommendation calling for a Europe-wide ban on corporal punishment.
"The Assembly considers that any corporal punishment of children is in breach of their fundamental right to human dignity and physical integrity. The fact that such corporal punishment is still lawful in certain member states violates their equally fundamental right to the same legal protection as adults. Striking a human being is prohibited in European society and children are human beings. The social and legal acceptance of corporal punishment of children must be ended.
"The Assembly is concerned to note that, so far, only a minority of the 46 member states have formally prohibited corporal punishment in the family and in all other settings. While they have all banned corporal punishment in schools, including private schools and other educational institutions, this does not necessarily extend to residential and all other forms of child care. Nor are such bans systematically and universally respected.
"The Assembly therefore invites the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers to launch a co-ordinated and concerted campaign in all the member states for the total abolition of corporal punishment of children. The Assembly notes the success of the Council of Europe in abolishing the death penalty and the Assembly now calls on it to make Europe, as soon as possible, a corporal punishment-free zone for children."1
The Assembly’s recommendation was welcomed by the Committee of Ministers, the top decision-making body of the Council of Europe, in April 2005.
1 Recommendation 1666 (2004) "A Europe-wide Ban on Corporal Punishment of Children", adopted by the Assembly June 24 2004
---------------------
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
The Global Initiative was launched in 2001 to support national, regional and international campaigns to prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment of children. Its aims are supported by UNICEF, UNESCO, members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and human rights institutions and activists across Europe and the world; see full list at www.endcorporalpunishment.org
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is the world’s largest coalition of non-governmental organisations fighting against arbitrary detention, torture, summary and extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and other forms of violence. Its global network comprises nearly more than 250 local, national and regional organisations, which share the common goal of eradicating such practices and enabling the respect of human rights for all.
www.omct.org
Landmark ruling puts Europe on fast track to corporal punishment free zone
Geneva, 7th June 2005
More than a third of European countries now prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the home, following landmark human rights decisions in the Council of Europe. In these countries, hitting children is as unlawful as hitting anyone else.
Responding to human rights complaints brought against five countries, in compliance with the European Committee of Social Rights’ report, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has confirmed that supreme court judgments in Italy and Portugal do prohibit all corporal punishment. This means that 16 of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe have taken this step (see notes for details of the decisions).
But the Committee found that Belgium, Greece and Ireland are in breach of their human rights obligations under the European Social Charter because they have not prohibited all corporal punishment. Article 17 of the Charter requires a prohibition in legislation against any form of violence against children, whether at school, in other institutions, in their home or elsewhere.
The government of Greece has signalled that it will legislate quickly to comply with the ruling, and Belgium and Ireland are expected to soon act on the Committee's decision and legislate to abolish all corporal punishment. Other European countries - including the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic - have already announced they will take this step this year following other domestic and international human rights pressure.
The Committee's rulings are the result of complaints submitted in 2003 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). OMCT made the case that the law in these countries failed to protect children from corporal punishment and other humiliating treatment or punishment.
Eric Sottas, Director of OMCT, said: "We welcome these ground-breaking decisions which should speed up moves to give children throughout Europe the same right to protection from being hit or humiliated as adults enjoy. They put Europe on the fast-track to becoming a corporal punishment free zone where children's human right to equal protection is respected."
Commenting on the Committee's decisions that all corporal punishment is already prohibited in Italy and Portugal, Mr Sottas said: “We welcome the Committee's clarification that the law in these countries does protect children from all corporal punishment. But research commissioned for us in both countries suggests that more than half the population believes it is lawful to hit children, and a very high proportion still think it acceptable to do so. We hope the Italian and Portuguese governments will ensure through public education that parents and children know that it is unlawful to hit children.”
Peter Clarke, President of the European Network of Ombudspeople for Children (ENOC) and Children's Commissioner for Wales, said: “These decisions are a big step towards fulfilling the right of all Europe's children to equal protection from being hit. They underline the human rights obligations of states in the region - including my country the UK - to prohibit all corporal punishment in the family.”
Peter Newell, Co-ordinator of the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, said: “The human rights pressure is now overwhelming. It's shaming that children have had to wait until last for equal legal protection from being hit and humiliated. We should now see quick progress across the continent.”
Only a small number of European countries have signed up to the Social Charter complaints procedure used against Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. But all states which have accepted the Social Charter have to submit regular progress reports to the Committee of Social Rights. Since 2003, the Committee has concluded that France, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey are in breach of article 17 for not prohibiting all corporal punishment (of these, Hungary and Romania have since changed their laws, and the Slovak Republic and Slovenia are committed to doing so soon.)
In addition, there is also strong pressure for reform from the United Nations. All European states have accepted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires them to protect children from "all forms of physical or mental violence" while in the care of parents or others. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors states' compliance with the UN Convention, has told many European states that their obligations require that they prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the family.
The UN Secretary-General has launched a study on violence against children, headed by Paulo Pinheiro. A European consultation will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 5–7 July 2005, where satisfying UN and European human rights obligations to abolish all corporal punishment will be a key theme.
For further information please contact:
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
Tony Samphier +44 208 671 2911
Peter Newell +44 208 889 9034
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) +41 22 809 49 39
Eric Sottas (director) or Cécile Trochu (Child Rights Programme Manager)
Further information on the Committee of Ministers’ decisions and corporal punishment in Europe
Findings of the European Committee of Social Rights, May-June 2005
PORTUGAL AND ITALY: The Committee accepted the governments' arguments that the law, as interpreted by Supreme Court decisions in those countries in recent years, does prohibit all corporal punishment, including in the family.
BELGIUM: The Committee concludes that none of the provisions in the Constitution, the Criminal Code or the Civil Code is adequate to effectively prohibit all corporal punishment. The Committee notes that a Bill to explicitly prohibit all corporal punishment is currently before the Belgian Senate.
GREECE: The Committee concludes that article 17 of the Charter is violated because there is no prohibition of all forms of violence against children within the family. While corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited in primary schools, there is no explicit prohibition in secondary schools (Greece has already remedied this by reforming its education law) and there is no clear prohibition of all forms of violence in other institutions and forms of care.
IRELAND: The Committee notes that the corporal punishment of children within the home is permitted in Ireland by the existence of the common law defence of "reasonable chastisement": "Although the criminal law will protect children from very serious violence within the home, the fact remains that certain forms of violence are permitted. The Committee therefore holds that the situation is in violation of Article 17 of the Revised Charter." The Committee also notes that children in foster care, residential care and certain child minding settings are not adequately protected against corporal punishment, in violation of Article 17. While there are guidelines, standards, registration schemes and inspections, these do not have the force of law.
Progress across Europe
Law reform to prohibit corporal punishment of children in the family began in Sweden in 1957, when a criminal law provision excusing parents who caused minor injuries to their children in the course of punishment was repealed. In 1979 Sweden became the first state to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment and other humiliating treatment of children, in its Parenthood and Guardianship Code. This put beyond doubt that the criminal law on assault applied fully and equally to punitive assaults on children by their parents. To date, 14 European states have introduced explicit abolition: Sweden (1979), Finland (1983), Norway (1987), Austria (1989), Cyprus (1994), Denmark (1997), Latvia (1998), Croatia (1999), Bulgaria (2000), Germany (2000), Iceland (2003), Hungary (2004), Romania (2004), and Ukraine (2004). In Italy, in 1996 the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome declared that all corporal punishment was unlawful and Portugal's Supreme Court issued a similar judgment in 1994; neither has confirmed these decisions explicitly in legislation, however the Committee of Social Rights accepts that these judgments meet the requirements of the European Social Charter.
The governments of the Netherlands, Slovak Republic and Slovenia have announced that they will prohibit all corporal punishment.
Corporal punishment free zone
In June 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe overwhelmingly adopted a recommendation calling for a Europe-wide ban on corporal punishment.
"The Assembly considers that any corporal punishment of children is in breach of their fundamental right to human dignity and physical integrity. The fact that such corporal punishment is still lawful in certain member states violates their equally fundamental right to the same legal protection as adults. Striking a human being is prohibited in European society and children are human beings. The social and legal acceptance of corporal punishment of children must be ended.
"The Assembly is concerned to note that, so far, only a minority of the 46 member states have formally prohibited corporal punishment in the family and in all other settings. While they have all banned corporal punishment in schools, including private schools and other educational institutions, this does not necessarily extend to residential and all other forms of child care. Nor are such bans systematically and universally respected.
"The Assembly therefore invites the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers to launch a co-ordinated and concerted campaign in all the member states for the total abolition of corporal punishment of children. The Assembly notes the success of the Council of Europe in abolishing the death penalty and the Assembly now calls on it to make Europe, as soon as possible, a corporal punishment-free zone for children."1
The Assembly’s recommendation was welcomed by the Committee of Ministers, the top decision-making body of the Council of Europe, in April 2005.
1 Recommendation 1666 (2004) "A Europe-wide Ban on Corporal Punishment of Children", adopted by the Assembly June 24 2004
---------------------
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
The Global Initiative was launched in 2001 to support national, regional and international campaigns to prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment of children. Its aims are supported by UNICEF, UNESCO, members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and human rights institutions and activists across Europe and the world; see full list at www.endcorporalpunishment.org
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is the world’s largest coalition of non-governmental organisations fighting against arbitrary detention, torture, summary and extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and other forms of violence. Its global network comprises nearly more than 250 local, national and regional organisations, which share the common goal of eradicating such practices and enabling the respect of human rights for all.
www.omct.org