PHYSICAL ABUSE

A) Violence against children
B) Corporal punishment

A) Violence against children

What is violence against children?

Violence against children is any non-accidental injury to a child by a parent, caretaker or other adult. These injuries may include beating, slapping, hitting, grabbing, pushing, shaking, kicking, throwing, pinching, choking, hair pulling, human bites, strangulation, or immersion in scalding water, with resulting bruises and welts, resulting in bruises, welts, broken bones, scars, burns, retinal hemorrhage, or internal injuries. The infliction of physical harm endangers and impairs a child’s physical health and development (Adopted from the ISPCAN definition www.ispcan.org).

Did you know?

° 80 to 98 per cent of children suffer physical punishment in their homes, with a third or more experiencing severe physical punishment resulting from the use of implements, according to studies from countries in all regions of the world

What you can do. Make a difference!

As rights holders, you have an active role to play

• Remember you are a unique person and have rights
• Know your rights in order to discuss and share your needs
• Speak up against abuse and violence and set up a group to stop it
• Talk about sensitive issues such as violence and abuse
• Education is part of prevention. It is the most important factor in preventing abuse and violence
• Empower your pears to explain to adults that there are boundaries they must respect when using discipline
• Train other children on the Rights of the child
• Create child-to-child forums and hearings to raise awareness of child rights and publish a bulletin
• Learn and recognize your rights and responsibilities through active, participatory classroom initiatives and parental support
• Ensure that your teachers and school staff are trained to prevent, recognize and report mistreatment of children and youth, as well as being educated on child rights so they in turn can educate children on their rights
• Request that your school offers prevention of child abuse programs
• Ensure that your school has a confidential complaint procedure and ensure that complaints are being investigated by an independent outside authority
• Join civil society organizations that give training sessions on how to identify potential warning signs
• Know where to get help if you see violence in your neighborhood or on the street
• Research individuals or organizations that provide emotional, legal or other support such as counseling centers, telephone hotlines or legal aid offices
• Inform others where to seek help and safely report violence
• Keep telephone numbers of hotlines in an emergency
• Tell adults about physical punishment and sexual abuse and how it hurts children
• Lobby youth organizations and local authorities
• Organize and participate in activities (meetings, discussion fora, conferences, campaigns, demonstrations, signing petitioning, workshops and preparation/distribution of communication materials)
• Ensure that your views are taken seriously at every stage of involvement in protection procedures
• Organize an event on the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse – 19 November
• Use the “Prevention Education Week”  (13-19 November) for your activities
• Put a yellow ribbon sticker on your door, computer or refrigerator to declare your stand “YES to prevention of child abuse”. www.woman.ch
• Share the YouthEnage.com website with your friends.

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B) Corporal punishment

What is corporal or physical punishment?

Corporal or physical punishment is “… any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.  Most involve hitting (smacking, slapping, spanking) children with the hand or with an implement – whip, stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoons, etc. But it can also involve for example kicking, shaking or throwing children, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion for example washing children’s moths out with soap or forcing them to swallow hot spices). Corporal punishment is invariably degrading.” (Committee on the rights of the Child, General Comment No. 8 para. 11).

Did you know?

° In over 100 countries, children in schools suffer the reality or threat of State-authorized, legalized beating
° In at least 30 States, sentences of whipping or caning are still being imposed on children in the penal system

What you can do. Make a difference!

• Advocate that corporal punishment is a form of violence against children
• Learn about your rights and how to challenge corporal punishment
• Participate in promoting ending corporal punishment
• Help identify solutions, know your rights
• Start a group to help end corporal punishment in your school and community
• Request that all incidents of violence in schools are recorded and reported
• Ensure that children’s rights are included in the school curriculum, in particular the right to physical integrity and protection from all forms of abuse and violence
• Ensure that all teachers are trained in methods of disciplining students that are not physically abusive
• Support programs that educate parents, teachers, school inspectors and society at large about the harm of corporal punishment and the existence of effective alternatives
• Ask your school or community leaders for training in non-violent conflict resolution so as to enhance your communication and negotiating skills to challenge physical abuse and violence
• Create a local youth council for the empowerment and conscious participation in community life
• Educate peers on positive non-violent relationships
• Encourage other youth groups to know and defend their rights
• Strengthen child rights clubs within schools
• Join, unite and strengthen other actors and networks working to end corporal punishments
• Organize awareness-raising debates on non-violent forms of disciplines
• Disseminate information materials in school
• Demand access to a violence-free learning environment, where the rights of all children are respected and promoted
• Facilitate child/youth participation to better understand children’s reality while simultaneously allowing adults to see both the problem and solution from a child’s perspective
• Link with other organizations that work for ending corporal punishment, e.g. www.endcorporalpunishment.org