Prohibiting Violent Punishment of Children:

An immediate human rights obligation and the only just and safe foundation for child protection

Sara Reid Andy James Coordinator Chair

’Sdim Curo Plant!/Children Are Unbeatable! CymruOverview of Symposium presented at BASPCAN Congress 2015

Presented at BASPCAN Cymru event 16 November 2015

Aims of symposium• To highlight the immediate human rights imperative to

prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading punishment of children.

• To give an overview of research on the prevalence of and attitudes to physical punishment, its harmful impacts and evidence of the outcomes arising from prohibition in other countries.

• To review and discuss progress towards achieving equal protection for children in Europe with a focus in particular on the UK nations and the Republic of Ireland.

• To benefit from the knowledge and expertise of Congress participants and encourage engagement with the campaign.

A human rights imperative• Wide consensus among human rights bodies (European and

international) that all physical punishment of children in all settings should be expressely prohibited in law.

• The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has told the UK three times (1995, 2002 & 2008) that it must legislate to address the anomaly where children get less protection than adults in cases of common assault in order to comply with Article 19 of the UNCRC.

• Section 58 of the Children Act 2004 allows adults and some others acting in loco parentis to justify common assult as ‘reasonable punishment’. They can no longer justify actual or grievous bodily harm.

• Deliberately hurting children as punishment is the only form of inter-personal violence that remains legal within the family.

Harmful effects of physical punishmentResearch evidence that corporal punishment is harmful to children, adults and societies is overwhelming. The Global Initiative’s review of research covers more than 150 studies on the effects of corporal punishment.

These show associations between corporal punishment and a wide range of negative outcomes, including:

• direct physical harm• negative impacts on mental and

physical health• poor moral internalisation

Harmful effects of physical punishment• increased aggression in children• increased perpetration and experience of

violence in adults • increased antisocial behaviour• poor cognitive development • damaged family relationships

Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children website:

http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/

Global progress

Global progress

Global progress

CAU! Cymru/’Sdim Curo Plant!• Launched in 2000, with main children’s charities playing a

key role (e.g. NSPCC Cymru/Wales, Barnardo’s Cymru, Children in Wales, Save the Children Cymru, Action for Children).

• Considerable success in early years of campaign in Wales: Welsh Government supported reform and funded the work of CAU Cymru; National Assembly called on the government at Westminster to reform the law; ‘making all physical punishment of children illegal’ was Priority 10 in Welsh Government Action Plan on the UNCRC.

• Around 150 organisations are signed-up supporters of CAU Cymru. Prominent individual supporters include the Archbishop of Wales, the Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and leading academics. Over half of AMs are ‘signed-up’.

History of support for reform in Wales• Welsh Government and Assembly proud of their record on

children’s rights, including the Rights of Children and Young Persons Measure (2010).

• First in UK to ban smacking in childcare settings.• Two votes of the whole Assembly in support of reform (2004 and

2011).• Government fact finding visits to Sweden and Finland (2004 &

2010)• Physical punishment of children included in Welsh Government

definition of domestic abuse in 2002.• Pilot project and evaluation funded by WG in Llansawel, Neath. • Representations to UN Committee (2008) and a

commitment in Getting it Right Action Plan for Children and Young people (2009)

Recent legislative opportunities

• Social Services and Well-being (Wales) ActStage 3 of Bill – February 2014

• Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) ActStage 3 of Bill – March 2015

In each case Welsh Government resisted the necessaryamendment (to remove the ‘reasonable punishment’ defence in Section 58, Children Act 2004), and whipped their AMs to vote against.

Progress across UK and Ireland

• Ireland: The Seanad Éireann passed government amendments to the Children First Bill on 21 October 2015 to remove the ‘reasonable chastisement’ defence in that country. The Bill is shortly to return to the Dáil where it is expected to be confirmed in law.

• Scotland• Northern Ireland• England• Wales

Current priorities in Wales• Party manifestos for 2016 Assembly elections.• UNCRC Monitoring process.• Lobbying and political advocacy.• Ensuring the issue doesn’t slip down the agenda (again).• Informing and engaging with the Children’s Sector and

wider civil society.• Addressing myths and anxieties about implementation.• Securing wider knowledge of this as a mainstream issue

with widespread support.• Developing a resource to inform a new Welsh

Government action plan to follow the election and predicted legislative change.

Diolch yn fawrThank youEmail: cau@childreninwales.org.uk or

dimtarocymru@gmail.com

Twitter: @CAUCymru (English language) @SdimCuroPlant (Cymraeg)