{"id":8287,"date":"2019-04-03T09:11:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T09:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=8287"},"modified":"2019-04-04T09:36:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T09:36:21","slug":"smacking-children-is-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2019\/04\/smacking-children-is-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Smacking children is illegal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Should smacking a child be against the law?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the fierce debate reaching a vital stage in Scotland at present, where the parliament\u2019s equalities commitee will announce on April 4 whether it will back legislation to make smacking a criminal offence. This follows a public consultation and will have a bearing on whether the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) Bill<\/a> becomes law, which would make Scotland the first jurisdiction in the UK to take this step. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government-backed bill, which would remove the existing defence of \u201cjustifiable assault\u201d, has divided the country in the past couple of years. The media reports that<\/a> around two in three Scots are against the change, with protesters lining up<\/a> outside parliament for the committee\u2019s final evidence-gathering session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the likes of the Scottish Police Federation, Barnardo\u2019s and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children are backing<\/a> the bill, other institutions are against \u2013 notably<\/a> the Free Church of Scotland and some civil liberties groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this opposition,\nthe committee can only reach one conclusion. The bill, originally proposed by\nGreen MSP Jim Finnie after he was petitioned by children\u2019s rights groups,\nsimply implements human rights obligations set out in international law.\nCountries like England are out of step and therefore in danger of being found\nin breach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universal human rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Much of the controversy\naround the Scottish bill concerns the perceived criminalisation of parents and\nthe infringement of their right to punish their child as they see fit. I\u2019m\nafraid that there is no such right under human rights law. The relevant legal\nright is to not be assaulted \u2013 and as the Scottish bill spells out in its name,\nit would extend to children the same basic right that adults enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This right to equal\ntreatment has been outlined in several human rights documents over the last 70\nyears. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights<\/a>, adopted\nin 1948, sets out rights aimed at recognising \u201cthe inherent dignity and\ninalienable rights of all members of the human family\u201d. This is reinforced\nwithin the European Convention on Human Rights<\/a> and\nthe United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child<\/a>,\nwhich recognises that \u201cby reasons of physical and mental immaturity\u201d, children\nrequire \u201cspecial safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection\u201d\nwhile under the age of 18. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN convention, which\nthe UK has ratified<\/a>, does recognise that parents have\na right to ensure that the rights of their children can be realised. But this\ndoes not mean they can punish them with violence: article 19 clearly states\nthat children should be protected from all forms of physical or mental\nviolence. Meanwhile, the UN General Comment<\/a> on the rights of\nchildren to freedom from all forms of violence states that \u201clegislative as well\nas other measures are required to fulfil states\u2019 obligations to protect\nchildren from all forms of violence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland\u2019s\ncurrent \u201cjustifiable assault\u201d defence therefore contravenes children\u2019s human\nrights. Quite frankly the law must be changed to ensure compliance, both in\nScotland but also across the UK. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has consistently<\/a> criticised the UK\ngovernment for its failure here. In England, the equivalent defence is known as\n\u201creasonable chastisement\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nthe avoidance of doubt, human rights do not depend on public opinion; they\nexist to help shape opinion. This is why there is no basis for arguing that the\nproposed change in law should not be made until there is a change in public\nattitudes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international picture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\nUK is of course lagging behind many other countries over smacking. Sweden\nbanned it first in 1979, over ten years before the UN Convention on the Rights\nof the Child was adopted in 1990. It is now banned<\/a> in 58 countries, rising steadily<\/a> from 11 in 2000 and 34 in\n2012. These include Germany, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Israel, Brazil\nand, very recently, France<\/a>, as well as all the Scandinavian\ncountries. Other major countries which have not followed suit include the US,\nCanada, Mexico, Italy, Australia and Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nScottish government frequently refers<\/a> to its desire for\nScotland to be the best place in the world to grow up, though this will seem\nlike empty rhetoric if the country does not ban smacking. It would also mean\nthat Wales would have a better claim here: not only has the Welsh assembly been\nmaking moves to incorporate the UN convention into domestic legislation, it has just published<\/a> the Children (Abolition of\nDefence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the Scottish parliament\u2019s equalities committee is largely\nsupportive of children\u2019s rights, and led by the ruling SNP\u2019s Ruth Maguire, so\nit is hoped that Scotland will make domestic law comply with the law on human\nrights. To be clear, the focus here is not on criminalising parents so much as\nprotecting children. Sending a consistent message to children that the rights\nthat they are taught in school can actually be realised wherever they are in\nsociety is simple but vital. In the famous words of<\/a> Eleanor Roosevelt, who led the\ndrafting of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home \u2026 where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination \u2026 unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.<\/em><\/p>
<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This article was first published in The Conversation <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Scotland\u2019s current \u201cjustifiable assault\u201d defence therefore contravenes children\u2019s human rights. Quite frankly the law must be changed to ensure compliance, both in Scotland but also across the UK.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[706],"tags":[378,36,254],"class_list":["post-8287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society","tag-children","tag-scottish-government","tag-scottish-parliament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}