Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance - Info
The Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance campaigns for the UK to satisfy human rights obligations by modernising the law on assault to afford children the same protection as adults. The Alliance was established in 1998 and is now the broadest campaign coalition ever assembled on a children’s issue, bringing together more than 400 organisations and many more individuals.
- Order campaign materials now
- The facts at a glance
- FAQs
- What do we want?
- What the United Nations says
- What the Council of Europe says
- Summary of human rights pressure
- What UK politicians say
- The professional consensus
- Who else has called for equal protection?
- Where do children already have equal protection?
- Ten reasons to support equal protection
- More facts
- Children’s views
- Advice on positive discipline
- Latest News
- Contact us
Facts, figures and arguments
WHAT DO WE WANT?
We simply want children to have equal protection. “Smacking” is already banned – for all people except children.
The law still allows parents and others to justify common assault of children as “reasonable punishment”. This defence is unjust and unsafe, and must be abolished now.
This simple reform will send a clear message that hitting children, however we dress it up, is as unacceptable and unlawful as hitting anyone else.
Giving children less protection under the law on assault is disrespectful. Children are people with human rights to physical integrity and human dignity just like the rest of us.
WHAT THE UNITED NATIONS SAYS
In October 2008, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child stated in its concluding observations on the UK: “The Committee is concerned at the failure of State party to explicitly prohibit all corporal punishment in the home and emphasises its view that the existence of any defence in cases of corporal punishment of children does not comply with the principles and provisions of the Convention, since it would suggest that some forms of corporal punishment are acceptable.”
In June 2006, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child said that giving children equal protection from assault is “an immediate and unqualified obligation” under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“Violence against children is a violation of their human rights, a disturbing reality of our societies. It can never be justified whether for disciplinary reasons or cultural tradition. No such thing as a ‘reasonable’ level of violence is acceptable. Legalized violence against children in one context risks tolerance of violence against children generally.”
Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
WHAT THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE SAYS
“...Article 17 [of the European Social Charter] requires a prohibition in legislation against any form of violence against children, whether at school, in other institutions, in their home or elsewhere.”
European Committee of Social Rights “General Observation” on corporal punishment, 2001
In July 2005, the European Committee of Social Rights found UK law in breach of human rights obligations. It concluded: “...since there is no prohibition in legislation of all corporal punishment in the home, the situation [in the UK] is not in conformity with Article 17 of the Charter.”
“For the Council of Europe, children are not mini-persons with mini-rights, mini-feelings and mini-human dignity. They are vulnerable human beings with full rights which require more, not less protection. It is therefore absolutely unacceptable that when it comes to the protection of their physical and psychological integrity, they should be worse off than adults.”
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, 2005
SUMMARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRESSURE FOR EQUAL PROTECTION
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2008 |
(October) UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends to the UK that “as a matter of priority all corporal punishment in the family, including through the repeal of all legal defences, in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland...”. (July) UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women notes with concern that corporal punishment is lawful in the home and constitutes a form of violence against children, including the girl child; recommends prohibition. (June) Council of Europe launches campaign for universal prohibition of all corporal punishment across its 47 member states. |
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2006 |
Report of the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children calls for all countries to prohibit all forms of violence against children, including corporal punishment, by 2009. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child “emphasizes that eliminating violent and humiliating punishment of children, through law reform and other necessary measures, is an immediate and unqualified obligation” for states which have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. |
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2005 |
Committee of Social Rights, the Council of Europe body monitoring conformity with the European Social Charter, “considers that since there is no prohibition in legislation of all corporal punishment in the home, the situation is not in conformity with Article 17 of the Charter”. |
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2004 |
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopts recommendation calling for the continent to become a corporal punishment free zone. |
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2002 |
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommends UK should prohibit corporal punishment in the family. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child “deeply regrets that the UK persists in retaining the defence of ‘reasonable chastisement’ and has taken no significant action towards prohibiting all corporal punishment of children in the family”. |
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2001 |
European Committee of Social Rights tells Council of Europe member states that the European Social Charter requires prohibition of all corporal punishment. |
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1998 |
European Court of Human Rights finds that the beating of a young English boy by his stepfather breaches the boy’s right to protection from degrading punishment. |
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1995 |
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends prohibition of all corporal punishment in the family in the UK. |
WHAT UK POLITICIANS SAY
Kevin Barron MP
Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP, chair of the Health Select Committee, said: "Hitting children, even if we dress it up with cosy euphemisms like 'smacking', hurts emotionally and physically. Zero tolerance of domestic violence is rightly accepted as a sensible standard for modern times, and it should be equally so where the well-being of children is concerned."
Rt Hon Lord Kinnock said: “Our human rights obligations to respect the physical integrity and human dignity of children are clear. To fulfil those obligations properly, children must be given the protection of the law against assault which adults take for granted in a civilised society. And we should do it quickly, before the 21st century gets much older.”
Lord St John of Fawsley
Lord St John of Fawsley said: “The case for ending the legal and social acceptance of hitting children is unanswerable. In the 21st century it is time for all of us to move on. Affording children equal protection under the law on assault seems to me a very modest, yet essential, step in the right direction.”
Annette Brooke MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on children and the family, said: “As modern liberals, we often have to balance rights for different individuals and groups. On this issue, the current law has the balance all wrong. There can be no justification for the smallest and most fragile of our citizens having less protection from assault than the rest of us.”
Greg Pope MP
Greg Pope MP said: "Support for this mainstream social reform is growing all the time in Westminster. It is now time for everyone with a stake in modern progressive politics to stand up and be counted. We cannot escape our human rights obligations to give children equal protection from assault; nor should we want to."
Elfyn Llwyd MP, Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader, said: “I truly believe that ending the legal and social acceptability of hitting children is one of the key tests of a modern civilised society. As such, giving children equal protection from assault is essential to drive forward the necessary cultural change.”
THE PROFESSIONAL CONSENSUS
"Hitting children hurts, humiliates and harms. Health professionals say let's stop defending this violent behaviour and change the law now so that parents can move on to use more effective methods of discipline."
Dr Cheryll Adams, Lead Professional Officer, UNITE - Community Practitioners' and Heath Visitors' Association
Professional organisations supporting the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance include:
4Children
Association of Educational Psychologists
Barnardo’s
British Association for the Study & Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect
British Association of Social Workers
Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association
Daycare Trust
Kidscape
National Association of Probation Officers
National Childminding Association
National Children's Bureau
NSPCC
National Youth Agency
NCH
Parenting UK
Royal College of Midwives
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Save the Children UK
The Children’s Society
Women’s Aid Federation of England
Click here for full list of supporting organisations
Most professional organisations contributing to the Government's consultation on "reasonable punishment" (section 58 of the Children Act 2004) in 2007 criticised the current law for being unjust and called for equal protection for children. Click here for details of the consultation findings (PDF from DCSF website).
WHO ELSE HAS CALLED FOR EQUAL PROTECTION?
- The UK’s Children’s Commissioners (2006)
- The independent Commission on the Family and the Wellbeing of Children (2005)
- The National Assembly for Wales (2004)
- The UK parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (2003)
- The House of Commons Health Select Committee (2003)
“Children have the same right as adults to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity and to equal protection under the law, in the home and everywhere else. There is no room for compromise...”
Joint statement by the UK Children’s Commissioners, 2006
WHERE DO CHILDREN ALREADY HAVE EQUAL PROTECTION?
Law reform to give children equal protection from assault is accelerating fast across Europe, changing attitudes for the better and without great controversy. Nineteen countries - more than a third of the member states of the Council of Europe - now give children equal protection: Austria (1989), Bulgaria (2000), Croatia (1999), Cyprus (1994), Denmark (1997), Finland (1983), Germany (2000), Greece (2006), Hungary (2004), Iceland (2003), Italy (1996 by supreme court ruling), Latvia (1998), Netherlands (2007), Norway (1987), Portugal (2007), Romania (2004), Spain (2007), Sweden (1979) and Ukraine (2004).
Click here to find out more about international progress
TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT EQUAL PROTECTION
Human rights obligations
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has twice recommended law reform; the European Social Charter requires abolition of all corporal punishment, and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that UK law does not provide adequate protection.
Children are being legally hit right now
Research commissioned by the Department of Health shows that most UK children are hit and around a third are hit severely (Smith and Nobes, 1997).
Support child protection professionals
All those involved in protecting children from abuse, from the NSPCC to Social Services Directors, want the law changed to provide a clear basis for child protection.
Promote positive parenting
The law as it stands undermines the work of health visitors, midwives, early years carers and many others who try to promote positive, non-violent discipline.
Cultural change
The law sets standards in every sphere of society, including family relationships. How can we expect parents to stop hitting their children if the law says it’s acceptable?
Reform works
Children are afforded equal protection from assault in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and many other countries, changing attitudes and behaviour for the better.
The law is archaic
The law allowing children to be legally hit dates back to the 19th century and is out of step with the values of a modern society.
Ordinary people do not oppose change
In fact, when asked in a non-sensationalist way, the majority of people support changing the law to give children equal protection (MORI Social Affairs Institute, 2004).
It’s the right thing to do
Many countries have changed their laws without having public opinion firmly on their side. They did it because it is the right thing to do for children, children’s rights and child protection, and public attitudes have changed as a result.
Hitting children is wrong
...and the law should say so.
