Progress towards world-wide prohibition of corporal punishment

World-wide

49 countries have laws banning corporal punishment in all settings including the family home:

Sweden
1979

Finland
1983

Norway
1987

Austria
1989

Cyprus
1994

Denmark
1997

Latvia
1998

Croatia
1999

Bulgaria
2000

Germany
2000

Israel
2000

Turkmenistan
2002

Iceland
2003

Romania
2004

Ukraine
2004

Hungary
2005

Greece
2006

Netherlands
2007

Togo
2007

Venezuela
2007

Uruguay
2007

New Zealand
2007

Portugal
2007

Spain
2007

Liechtenstein
2008

Luxembourg
2008

Moldavia
2008

Costa Rica
2008

Kenya
2010

Tunisia
2010

Poland
2010

Republic of Congo 2010

Albania
2010

South Sudan
2011

Honduras
2013

Macedonia
(FYROM) 2013

Cabo Verde
2013

Malta
2014

Brazil
2014

Bolivia
2014

Argentina
2014

San Marino
2014

Nicaragua
2014

Estonia
2014

Andorra
2014

Benin
2015

Ireland
2015

Peru
2015

Mongolia
2016

 

The European Union

20 of the 28 member states have achieved a full ban and another four are clearly committed to achieving one soon. The UK is one of just five EU states which have neither prohibited nor committed to doing so. Of the other four, ministers in both Belgium and France have indicated in recent months that they will consider a complete ban. Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that all corporal punishment is unlawful (though this is not yet reflected in legislation).