Glossary

Learn what words mean...

actual bodily harm - this is a legal term for hurting someone. A court can decide if a person has caused somebody "actual bodily harm".

campaigning - means trying to change something that you believe is wrong.

campaigner - a person that works to change something that they believe is wrong. You can campaign in lots of different ways.

children - everyone who is under 18. But we know that some people who are under 18 don't like being called "children," so on this website we often say "children and young people."

consultation - the government asking people what they think about a certain issue.

corporal punishment - punishing people using violence, for instance by hitting them.

Council of Europe - an organisation of lots of countries in Europe, including the UK. It works to make sure that human rights are respected in its member countries.

court - if somebody has broken the law, they can be taken to court. The court will decide if they have broken the law and if and how they will be punished for it.

European Convention on Human Rights - a set of rules about how countries in Europe should respect human rights.

European Court of Human Rights - a special court that makes sure that countries in Europe respect the European Convention on Human Rights.

equal protection - Children are Unbeatable! sometimes say this as short for "equal protection from violence for children and adults." This means that we think it should be illegal to hurt children, just as it is to hurt adults.

government - the group of people the Prime Minister chooses to help run the country. There are around 100 people in the government.

human rights - basic rights that people around the world agree that everyone has. For example, the right to life.

illegal - means the law says it is not allowed.

judge - the person in charge of a court.

legal - means the law says it is OK.

law - the law is a set of rules about how people can act. There are different laws in different countries. In the UK, the law says that some adults can hit or hurt children to punish them. Read more about what the law says here.

MP - stands for Member of Parliament. There are 646 of them and each of them represents an area of the UK. They work in the House of Commons, which is a part of Parliament.

parliament - the authority which makes and changes laws. There are about 1400 people in Parliament. It is made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Queen. You can read more about Parliament on this website.

reasonable punishment defence - if an adult is taken to court for hurting a child, they can say they only did it to punish the child. Unless the child is hurt quite badly (if they are caused "actual bodily harm") this stops it being a crime. Children are Unbeatable! want to get rid of this defence so that people will not be allowed to punish children by hurting them.

United Nations - an international organisation which most of the countries in the world are members of. It does lots of things, one of which is to work to make sure that its member countries respect human rights.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - a set of rules about how countries in the United Nations should respect children's rights. You can read more about it on this UNICEF website.

violence - when people hurt each other on purpose.