violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

74Violence against children in the home and familyTo date, States’ responses have focused primarilyon child protection services or alternativesystems of care, rather than on prevention.Prevention and protection strategies shouldbe developed in tandem, balanced within theframework of an overall strategy which considersissues of social policy; legal reform; programmesand services for prevention and care;and strategies to bring about changes in attitudesand behaviours.Legal reformFewer than 20 countries have reformed theirlaws to prohibit physical chastisement in thefamily, but more have committed themselvesto doing so as the Study has progressed. AllStates have laws making assault a criminaloffence and many Constitutions prohibitcruel, inhuman or degrading punishment;many have laws which prohibit cruelty, maltreatmentor ‘abuse’ of children. But these lawsare not interpreted as prohibiting all violenceagainst children, and in many States legislationcontains justifications or defences forcorporal punishment. Most countries prohibitincest, rape and other sexual assaults; manyalso specify a minimum age of sexual consentand of marriage, although this is often belowthe age of 18. Most countries where FGM ispractised now have laws against it. 170 However,laws on violence against children are not effectivelyimplemented in many places becauseof the strength of traditional attitudes and insome cases because of the existence of religiousor customary legal systems.Laws on corporal punishment andother forms of cruel or degradingpunishmentLaws on criminal assault, as has been notedby the Committee on the Rights of the Child,are seldom interpreted as prohibiting physicalchastisement, corporal punishment and allother forms of cruel or degrading punishmentof children in the family. In over 70 countries,the English common-law defence of ‘reasonable’or ‘moderate’ chastisement of children hasremained following periods of colonisation. Inorder to prohibit all corporal punishment, anysuch defences must be removed and prohibitionof corporal punishment and other forms ofcruel or degrading punishment made explicit.Between 1996 and 2006, the Committee onthe Rights of the Child has recommended to130 countries that they take steps to prohibitall corporal punishment. In 2006, the Committeeadopted a General Comment – a statementof its authoritative interpretation of theCRC – on the right of the child to protectionfrom corporal punishment and other degradingforms of punishment. 171 The Committeeemphasises that the first purpose of law reformto prohibit all corporal punishment withinthe family is preventive: “to prevent violenceagainst children by changing attitudes andpractice, underlining children’s right to equalprotection and providing an unambiguousfoundation for child protection and for thepromotion of positive, non-violent and participatoryforms of child-rearing.” 172The Committee also emphasises that the principleof equal protection of children and adults