Ending legalised violence against children -2009 Global Report 2009

In total, 109 states have prohibited corporal punishment in all schools, 150 as a sentence of the courts, 109 as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions and 36 in all alternative care settings (residential and day care institutions, foster care, etc). The rate of law reform has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly in the context of the UN Study on Violence against Children. In the ten years since Sweden first achieved prohibition in 1979, three more states did the same; four more states achieved law reform in the following decade. In the decade 1999 to 2009, 17 states enacted laws to give children equal protection from assault.

There are now 25 states worldwide which have enacted laws to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment of children, including by parents and other carers in the family home. And the autonomous government of Southern Sudan achieved full prohibition with the official launch of the new Child Act in April 2009. Governments in at least a further 23 states have made a commitment to full legal prohibition and/or are actively discussing draft laws which would achieve this.

In other states, prohibition is being achieved in settings outside the home. In India, prohibition of school corporal punishment in the Right to Education Act 2009 brought the proportion of the global child population legally protected from corporal punishment in schools to 61%, compared with 41% previously. Laws prohibiting corporal punishment were also enacted in 2009 in relation to all schools in the Cayman Islands (UK), private schools in the Isle of Man (UK), and public schools in Ohio (US) and Ontario (Canada). Draft legislation which would prohibit in schools is under discussion in a number of other states worldwide.

In total, 109 states have prohibited corporal punishment in all schools, 150 as a sentence of the courts, 109 as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions and 36 in all alternative care settings (residential and day care institutions, foster care, etc). The rate of law reform has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly in the context of the UN Study on Violence against Children. In the ten years since Sweden first achieved prohibition in 1979, three more states did the same; four more states achieved law reform in the following decade. In the decade 1999 to 2009, 17 states enacted laws to give children equal protection from assault.

But still, only 3.2% of the global child population are legally protected from being hit by parents and other carers in the family home. Only 4.6% live in countries where they would be protected in all forms of alternative care. If the governments committed to prohibition achieve law reform, and if prohibiting draft legislation currently under discussion is passed, still less than a fifth of the global child population would be fully protected in law.

Over 150 state governments have made no commitment to prohibiting corporal punishment in the home, despite the vast majority being urged to do so, sometimes repeatedly, by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Corporal punishment is lawful in schools in almost 90 states. Some governments openly defend the use and legality of corporal punishment in the home, schools and other settings.