The Global Initiative is delighted to present\u00a0a new global report ahead\u00a0of a\u00a0high-level\u00a0intergovernmental conference hosted by the Austrian\u00a0Government in Vienna this week (June 2016), and marking the 10th\u00a0anniversary of the UN Study on Violence against Children. This special report outlines progress to date towards universal prohibition and elimination of all corporal punishment and looks at the additional context to speed progress presented by the new Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.<\/p>\n
Designed to support action, the report describes how states can work collaboratively towards universal prohibition of violent punishment; it sets out existing regional commitments and action and how to use opportunities at national level to achieve prohibition. Where a total ban has been achieved, the report outlines what is required for states to move from prohibition in law to elimination of all violent punishment of children.<\/p>\n
While there is some commendable progress as this report confirms, corporal punishment of children remains legal within the family in almost three quarters of states and also in schools, care institutions and penal systems in many states.<\/p>\n
Both the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child consistently address this issue as a human rights violation in their examination of states\u2019 reports. We must hope, even expect, that the added monitoring of the SDGs process will speed universal prohibition ahead of 2030, together with substantial progress towards the elimination of all violent punishment.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Chair, Committee on the Rights of the Child; Chair, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in\u00a0Childhoods free from\u00a0corporal punishment\u00a0\u2013 prohibiting and\u00a0eliminating all violent\u00a0punishment of children.\u00a0A special progress report prepared for the high-level\u00a0intergovernmental conference hosted by the Austrian\u00a0Government in Vienna, June 2016, and marking the 10th\u00a0anniversary of the UN Study on Violence against Children<\/em><\/p>\n
The full report is available\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n