{"id":21470,"date":"2021-07-27T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T15:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/?p=21470"},"modified":"2021-07-27T16:20:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T15:20:43","slug":"african-charter-30th-anniversary-corporal-punishment-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/african-charter-30th-anniversary-corporal-punishment-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"The African Children\u2019s Charter and ending corporal punishment of children in Africa: A work in progress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Just over 30\u00a0years ago, the African Children\u2019s Charter called on states to protect children\u00a0from violence, including corporal punishment\u00a0\u2013 the most common form of violence faced by children across the world. Today, however, only 10 countries fully prohibit the practice,\u00a0a fraction of the 54 states on the continent.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

On the thirtieth anniversary of the African Children\u2019s Charter, Dr Sonia Vohito, Legal Policy Specialist at the End Violence Partnership,\u00a0examined the journey toward prohibition in Africa,\u00a0along with the barriers that have been faced by those hoping to accomplish prohibition since the Charter\u2019s birth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThe ultimate goal\u00a0[of this article]\u00a0is to call on state parties to fully implement\u00a0the African Children\u2019s Charter by effectively protecting children\u2019s\u00a0best interests, including safeguarding their dignity and their physical\u00a0and mental integrity,\u201d said Dr Vohito.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In the article, Dr Vohito stresses the importance of\u00a0harnessing national legislation to transform behavioral change.\u00a0By prohibiting corporal punishment, children\u2019s status in society is elevated, and\u00a0newfound clarity is provided for parents, children, teachers, social services, and law enforcement that no violence against a child is acceptable.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cReforming national\u00a0legislation to achieve prohibition in all settings is a\u00a0milestone achievement,\u201d said Dr Vohito.\u00a0\u201cIt sends a clear message to adults and\u00a0children that corporal punishment is no longer acceptable and that\u00a0the law protects children from all assault as it does for adults. Once\u00a0prohibition is in place, states and societies must ensure its effective\u00a0implementation in the\u00a0best\u00a0interests\u00a0of the child\u00a0to\u00a0achieve\u00a0an end to corporal punishment.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Also highlighted are\u00a0the laws, policies,\u00a0and legal frameworks around corporal punishment in multiple African countries, along with the role of the African Children\u2019s Committee in ending the practice,\u00a0in addition to high-level\u00a0court judgments and related case law.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIt has become evident that for the past 30 years, the African Children\u2019s Charter and its monitoring body \u2013 the African Children\u2019s Committee \u2013 are essential in the protection and promotion of children\u2019s rights in Africa,\u201d said Dr Vohito. \u201cHowever, in order to ensure that no child is subjected to corporal punishment by 2040,\u00a0as per Africa\u2019s Agenda for Children 2040,\u00a0more efforts will need to be made.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Find out more about progress towards prohibiting and eliminating corporal punishment in Africa <\/a>and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.<\/a><\/p>

Find out about Pathfinding countries in Africa<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Just over 30\u00a0years ago, the African Children\u2019s Charter called on states to protect children\u00a0from violence, including corporal punishment\u00a0\u2013 the most common form of violence faced by children across the world. Today, however, only 10 countries fully prohibit the practice,\u00a0a fraction of the 54 states on the continent.\u00a0On the thirtieth anniversary of the African Children\u2019s Charter, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,30,116,33,29,89,145,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-articles","category-english","category-global-progress","category-news","category-resources","category-sdgs","category-using-human-rights-law-to-support-advocacy-for-law-reform"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21470"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21476,"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21470\/revisions\/21476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endcorporalpunishment.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}