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Corporal Punishment of Children Act
Category: Human Rights | Strength: Significant | Submitted by: Divitaen

The General Assembly

Cognizant of the fact that medical research reveals that domestic corporal punishment increases aggression, lowers IQ rates and greatly increases the risk of future alcohol and substance abuse and the experiencing of short-term or long-term mental illness,

Understanding that alternatives to corporal punishment have been found to achieve the same discipline results in children while avoiding the aforementioned negative effects,

Believing that the harm to children inflicted by corporal and physical punishment warrants international action to prevent this additional form of abuse from being inflicted on minors,

Hereby,

1. DEFINES, for the purposes of this Resolution, the following terms as such:
(a) “Child” as any individual under a nation’s legally defined age of majority,
(b) “Guardian” as any individual legally obliged to be accountable for the welfare and care of a child, whether this individual is the biological parent of the child or not,
(c) “Corporal punishment” as the use of physical force by any guardian upon a child under their care, for the purposes of discipline or correction, with methods including spanking or slapping with an open hand or a relevant implement,
(d) “Home” refers to a domestic setting where the guardian has chosen to rear the child to adulthood,
(e) “School” refers to a communal educational institute for children that is tasked with the discipline of said children under their care,
(f) “Educator” refers to any teacher or tutor tasked in said educational institute with duties including disciplining or correcting the behaviour of said children,

2. AFFIRMS that the application of corporal punishment on children by any individual above the age of majority, is a violation of the rights of children to bodily integrity and their rights to not be subjected to violence or cruel and degrading treatment,

3. REQUIRES all nations to adopt legislation with the following provisions:
(a) Banning and criminalizing, in full, any application of physical and corporal punishment on children inflicted upon them by any guardians or educators,
(b) Banning the use of physical and corporal punishment as a correctional method on children in schools, homes and juvenile correctional facilities,
(c) Requiring law enforcement officials to reasonably respond to any information that would reveal probable cause of the violation of these provisions by any adult, whether from neighbours’ testimonies or reports from educators and medical professionals, and to investigate these claims as quickly as possible
(d) Imposing relevant punishments on individuals convicted of the crime of applying corporal punishment to a child, be they fines or imprisonment, and removing from their official positions any educators or correctional officers found to have been in violation of this ban on physical and corporal punishment applied to children,

4. URGES all nations to adopt nationwide awareness campaigns and to distribute relevant materials and resources for guardians and educators, explaining the scientifically proven detriments of applying corporal punishment to children while explaining alternative methods that have been found to be equally effective in instilling discipline,

5. INSISTS that nations apply such educational and parenting resources to any relevant rehabilitation programs for guardians found in violation of the ban on physical and corporal punishment on children in the process of educating these parents on the need to abstain from the application of such force on the children they are legally accountable for.

Draft 1

The General Assembly

Applauding the efforts of GA Resolution #222, “Prevention of Child Abuse”, and its efforts to avert the infliction of “emotional and mental trauma in a child”,

Cognizant of the fact that medical and psychological research reveals that domestic corporal punishment to discipline a child increases aggression in a child, lowers IQ rates and greatly increases the risk of future alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, criminal activity, anxiety disorder and the experiencing of short-term or long-term mental illness,

Understanding that alternatives to corporal punishment, including imposing time-outs and denying privileges, have been found to achieve the same compliance and discipline results in children while avoiding the aforementioned negative effects,

Concerned that allowing corporal punishment often hampers prosecution of child abuse, as the line “mild” and “extreme” forms of physical punishment is often legally ambiguous, resulting in the acquittal of many genuine child abusers,

Believing that the harm to children inflicted by corporal and physical punishment warrants international action to prevent this additional form of abuse from being inflicted on minors,

Desiring for nations to implement broad and comprehensive measures to prevent children from being subjected to corporal punishment,

Hereby,

1. DEFINES, for the purposes of this Resolution, the following terms as such:
(a) “Child” as any individual under a nation’s legally defined age of majority,
(b) “Guardian” as any individual legally obliged to be accountable for the welfare and care of a child, whether this individual is the biological parent of the child or not,
(c) “Corporal punishment” as the use of physical force by any guardian upon a child under their care, for the purposes of discipline or correction, with methods including spanking or slapping with a guardian’s open hand or with a relevant implement,
(d) “Home” refers to a private, domestic setting where the guardian has chosen to rear the child to adulthood,
(e) “School” refers to a communal educational institute catering education specifically for children and not adults that is often tasked with the discipline of said children under their care,
(f) “Educator” refers to any teacher or tutor tasked in said educational institute with the duties including that of disciplining or correcting the behaviour of said children,

2. AFFIRMS that the application of physical and corporal punishment on children by any individual above the age of majority, including legal guardians and educators tasked with the raising or disciplining of a child, is a violation of the rights of children to bodily integrity and their rights to not be subjected to violence or cruel and degrading treatment,

3. REQUIRES all nations to adopt legislation with the following provisions:
(a) Banning and criminalizing, in full, any application of physical and corporal punishment on children inflicted upon them by any guardians or educators,
(b) Banning the use of physical and corporal punishment as a correctional method on children in schools, homes and juvenile correctional facilities,
(c) Requiring law enforcement officials to reasonably respond to any information that would reveal probable cause of the violation of these provisions by any adult, whether from neighbours’ testimonies or reports from educators and medical professionals, and to investigate these claims as quickly as possible
(d) Imposing relevant punishments on individuals convicted of the crime of applying corporal punishment to a child, be they fines or imprisonment, and removing from their official positions any educators or correctional officers working for the government and found to have been in violation of this ban on physical and corporal punishment applied to children,

4. URGES all nations to adopt nationwide educational programs, awareness campaigns and to distribute relevant materials and resources for guardians and educators, explaining the scientifically proven detriments and harms of applying corporal punishment to children while teaching and explaining alternative methods, such as time-outs and the denial of privileges, that have been found to be equally effective in instilling discipline while avoiding the negative effects on child development,

5. INSISTS that nations apply such educational and parenting resources to any relevant rehabilitation programs for guardians found in violation of the ban on physical and corporal punishment on children in the process of educating these parents on the need to abstain from the application of such force on the children they are legally accountable for,

6. ENCOURAGES, but does not require, nations to adopt further legislation to regulate and ensure that children are not subjected to such corporal punishment, including:
(a) Regulations to ensure that individuals, including medical professionals,   do not spread fraudulent information advocating the continued use of corporal punishment on children in direct violation of the law,
(b) Regulations to ensure that materials are not distributed, without artistic merit, with the intent to promote or portray in a positive light the application of corporal punishment on children,
(c) Regulations on domestic and transnational adoption agencies to ensure that children are not sent to guardians that have been found in contravention on the ban on the application of corporal punishment to children, or to nations that have not adopted relevant legislation criminalizing such a correctional technique,

7. CLARIFIES that this Resolution neither mandates nor prohibits nations from adopting more stringent measures to ban the use of corporal punishment on children and does not require nations to outlaw or permit the use of corporal punishment on adults in relevant correctional facilities.

I'm opposed to this.  I don't see this as an international issue, and I really could never come home to my taxpayers and tell them this is what they're funding in the WA.  Also, I'm against including juvenile detention centers in this.  Sometimes the staff are forced to defend themselves from violent kids, and I believe this law would give the kids (or their lawyers) standing in international court(!) to sue a staff member over a use of force incident.

Official debate thread here.

An updated draft of this resolution has been posted.  Mainly, reorganization and trimming of unnecessary bits for the character limit.

Is this not just a bill against corporal punishment? How can you be against that?

Many people think that equivalent punishment is the only true way and that a murderer should be murdered... Also some people believe that things like this should be legislated nation by nation instead of internationally.

Murderer's should definitely not be murdered in my view. That is not justice, that is revenge.

Many people think that equivalent punishment is the only true way and that a murderer should be murdered... Also some people believe that things like this should be legislated nation by nation instead of internationally.

I'd just like to politely point out that the bill in question is calling for a ban on corporal punishment, i.e physical measures taken against children by their parents or other adults. Capital punishment however is what is commonly referred to as the 'death sentence', or the execution of convicted criminals, just in case that wasn't clear.

In any case, both are reprehensible and I voted against for this bill.

EDIT: I meant for, not sure why I put against. 

In other words, spankings, not electric chairs.

Surely an international ban on hitting children can only be a good thing? I don't get the hate for bills like this.

And I'd say you were right. My mother never hit me as a child, if you have to resort to resort to beating a little kid half your size to make them do as you ask, you've resorted to childish action and have lost any kind of high-ground you had to teach them better behavior.

I think peoples qualms come from the unilateral nature of the resolution, that the World Assembly shouldn't have a say in how people raise their children, whether they are in support of the resolution or not. And that's not a bad argument. It's just that you'd think that as a species hitting children is a bad thing would be one of the few things we could actually agree on.

And don't call me Shirley.

Difficulty of course being that it's not as a species... It's an international coalition of creatures... Which makes things more difficult...
And I personally was subject to corporal punishment... Partially because I was literally trying to murder my brother. The difficulty in any situation is that you don't think about all of the ways in which it could be applicable... Because you see, grabbing me, twisting my arm to drop the knife, and pinning me down would all be seen as a corporal punishment via this law. My father, in trying to save the life of one of his sons, would've accidentally broken international law... Which is a bit fucked... And before you say that this is a rare case of protection from homicide do remember that it is often that someone has to take potentially harmful actions to save someone else. I've definitely had to knock out a friend before so that I could take them to a hospital...
It's a complicated situation and mix of: something the wa maybe shouldn't be legislating, something that sounds simple but isn't, and something that can really change culture to culture. I mean even on actual earth in real life there are intense and extraordinarily painful coming of age rituals that would fall under this ban that have been around for quite a while and are part of people's culture...

Difficulty of course being that it's not as a species... It's an international coalition of creatures... Which makes things more difficult...
And I personally was subject to corporal punishment... Partially because I was literally trying to murder my brother. The difficulty in any situation is that you don't think about all of the ways in which it could be applicable... Because you see, grabbing me, twisting my arm to drop the knife, and pinning me down would all be seen as a corporal punishment via this law. My father, in trying to save the life of one of his sons, would've accidentally broken international law... Which is a bit fucked... And before you say that this is a rare case of protection from homicide do remember that it is often that someone has to take potentially harmful actions to save someone else. I've definitely had to knock out a friend before so that I could take them to a hospital...
It's a complicated situation and mix of: something the wa maybe shouldn't be legislating, something that sounds simple but isn't, and something that can really change culture to culture. I mean even on actual earth in real life there are intense and extraordinarily painful coming of age rituals that would fall under this ban that have been around for quite a while and are part of people's culture...

Your example has nothing to do with what this bill is trying to do. What 'your dad' was doing was self-defense. An example like that certainly shouldn't deter lawmakers from protecting children that is for sure.

And I'd say you were right. My mother never hit me as a child, if you have to resort to resort to beating a little kid half your size to make them do as you ask, you've resorted to childish action and have lost any kind of high-ground you had to teach them better behavior.

I think peoples qualms come from the unilateral nature of the resolution, that the World Assembly shouldn't have a say in how people raise their children, whether they are in support of the resolution or not. And that's not a bad argument. It's just that you'd think that as a species hitting children is a bad thing would be one of the few things we could actually agree on.

And don't call me Shirley.

Surely Shirley.

Your example has nothing to do with what this bill is trying to do. What 'your dad' was doing was self-defense. An example like that certainly shouldn't deter lawmakers from protecting children that is for sure.

Except that such an action is not self defense in the state of Washington. He was only allowed to commit those actions because of his right as a parent to, to an extent, punish me.
But you're sort of missing what I'm saying overall. This isn't really constructed with the ability to pass over certain cultures and certain necessities for each species, technology, and culture... And I think that to a certain extent it's pretty impossible to account for so many differences in an international vote.

We are all the same 'species' and I don't believe any 'culture' should hurt children, especially not in the name of tradition or religion.

Wa is a roleplay community! Not everyone is the same species!
Ga is a roleplay community and not everyone is the same species, level of technology, or corporeal form!