• In its concluding observations on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s initial report, the Committee expressed concern that corporal punishment of children was not explicitly prohibited in the home and in alternative and day care settings. The Committee recommended that corporal punishment is explicitly and universally prohibited “with particular attention for children with disabilities living in institutions”. Bosnia and Herzegovina is committed to prohibition and legislation is currently being drafted to explicitly prohibit all corporal punishment of children.
• To Iran, the Committee stated its concern over the lack of complaint mechanisms available to persons with disabilities in cases of torture and cruel treatment, particularly in residential institutions or psychiatric hospitals. It issued a recommendation to enact legislation to prohibit all corporal punishment of children with disabilities and to ensure their protection from its practice.
• The Committee also stated its concern to Jordan about the provisions within the Jordanian Criminal Code which provide a legal defence to the use of violence and physical punishment against children with disabilities. The Committee recommended that these provisions are repealed from the Criminal Code in order to fully prohibit corporal punishment.

Although the Committee did not specifically refer to corporal punishment in its review of Armenia, it expressed concern at the violence and abuse children with disabilities suffer from at home and in institutional settings and recommended that the Government “prohibit and criminalize all forms of violence and abuse against children with disabilities in all settings, including home and residential institutions”. Since 2013 Armenia has been going through a legal reform process to amend the Family Code which would include prohibition of all corporal punishment – we can only hope that this will move the legislative process further forward.

For further details, see the Global Initiative’s individual country reports for Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran and Jordan.

For further information on the obligation to prohibit corporal punishment under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to see the Committee’s recommendations in full, see the Global Initiative’s page on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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In its observations on Qatar, the Committee expressed concern at the legality of corporal punishment and the lack of information on how it affects children with disabilities in the home and other settings. The Committee recommended prohibition of all corporal punishment.

The Committee also included the issue of corporal punishment in its list of issues for Mauritius, asking how children with disabilities are being protected from corporal punishment in all settings. The Government drew attention to the Education Act which already prohibits corporal punishment and the Children’s Bill currently under discussion which will give added protection.

Further information

For details of the legality of corporal punishment in these states and the reforms necessary in order to achieve prohibition, see the Global Initiative’s country reports for Qatar and Mauritius.

For information on the human rights imperative to prohibit corporal punishment of children in relation to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, see the CRPD section of this website.

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Highlighting the importance of the issue for children with disabilities, the briefing emphasises that children with disabilities are at increased risk of experiencing corporal punishment and underlines the human rights imperative to prohibit all violent punishment of children. It contains messages of support from Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes, Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Catalina Devandas Aguilar, the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities.

The briefing calls on all those working for the rights of people with disabilities to highlight to governments their obligation to prohibit all corporal punishment and to incorporate the issue of corporal punishment in their work on related topics.

Download the briefing here.

A limited number of hard copies is available: email info@endcorporalpunishment.org.

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