Effective enforcement of laws on corporal punishment stressed

Islamabad : Warning hitting children causes their aggressive and anti-social behaviour, experts on Saturday stressed the need for effective enforcement of laws against physical punishment of minors at home and in school.

During an International Day to End Corporal Punishment function, they also pushed the government for the fulfillment of its commitment to taking necessary administrative, social, and educational measures to protect children from physical and mental violence, maltreatment, and exploitation.

The event was organised by the United Global Organisation of Development (UGOOD) and National Action Coordination Group Pakistan against violence against children in collaboration with the Hashoo Foundation, the National Commission on the Rights of Children, and the Ministry of Human Rights at the National Press Club here to what they said raise voice for the elimination of corporal punishment. Coordinator of the NACG Pakistan Mehwish Kayani told participants that corporal punishment was meant to cause physical pain to people, especially minors, at home and in schools with the most common methods being spanking and paddling.

She said that prisoners and enslaved people were also subjected to that physical punishment. “Many countries have banned this heinous practice but Pakistan is among the 69 countries, which are trying to eradicate it from educational institutions,” she said.

Ms. Mehwish Kayani said besides spanking, slapping, pinching, pulling, twisting, and hitting with an object, forcing a child to consume unpleasant substances such as soap, hot sauce, or hot pepper was also a form of corporal punishment.

She said many parents resorted to physical punishments to teach children acceptable behaviours, especially how to make good choices and exercise self-control, without realising that physical punishment leads to increased aggression, antisocial behaviour, physical injury, and mental health problems for minors.

“This day [International Day to End Corporal Punishment] is our opportunity to show support for all child victims of corporal punishment and calls for better protection of children as human rights holders. The government has committed to ending violence against children by 2030, but corporal punishment continues to blight billions of children’s lives. We know what works and we have eight years to end corporal punishment,” she said.

M Ali Haider of Askariya School said children had consistently expressed the urgent need for an end to all kinds of violence against them. He said some people argued that it was okay to give a child a slap or one or two canes when they misbehaved, but it was not OK just like it was not OK to do that to an adult. “Think about it… Let’s end corporal punishment together. When a child gets physical punishment, society is telling them — and an entire generation — that violence is a valid means of resolving a problem,” he said.

Syed Abdul Ahad Gilani of the Future World School said corporal punishment was the most common form of violence against children with around four in five of all children aged 2-14 years worldwide being subjected to it in their homes every year (physical punishment and/or psychological aggression).

He said research had found strong evidence connecting violent punishment with multiple harmful impacts on the child and society, including significant economic costs. “Corporal punishment violates children’s right to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity, as well as their rights to health, development, education and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Mr. Ahad Gilani said the government had committed to ending violence against children in Sustainable Development Target 16.2, so serious actions were needed without delay to translate that commitment into reality.

Hania Shafique of the Froebel’s International School said widespread social acceptance of corporal punishment meant that a degree of violence in childrearing is normalised, entrenching children’s low status in society and opening the door to other forms of violence and mistreatment. “As the smallest and most vulnerable members of society, children deserve more, not less, protection from assault,” she said. Tajdar Hashmi, a child member of the NCRC, called for necessary amendments to or repeal of laws to ensure that none of them is construed as providing a defence for corporal punishment.

He said corporal punishment of the children should be prohibited in all forms and manifestations and in all settings from alternative care settings to daycare centres to schools and penal institutions and that all judicial corporal punishment should be prohibited, including under Sharia law and traditional legal systems. Faryal Javed, a child member of the NCRC, said the Federal Directorate of Education, which regulated public sector schools and colleges in Islamabad, had warned teachers of compulsory retirement and even sacking over corporal punishment.

She said Pakistan had ratified the United Nations Convention on Rights of Child (1989) and the government was bound by it to take appropriate legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to protect children from physical and mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect, and negligence, and maltreatment and exploitation. Pushing provincial governments for legislation on corporal punishment and its effective enforcement, she also called for trained schoolteachers on positive disciplining methods.