- NICCY believes that there needs to be support for parents to find better ways to discipline children other than smacking
- Different people have different views on physical punishment according to recent research in Northern Ireland
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has specific sections on this
- UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 2002 rejects reasonable chastisement as a defence for physically punishing children
- In September 2006 NICCY challenged the Government's proposed new law on physical punishment
What children and young people have said:
"There’s no two ways about it– smacking is hitting."
"We think there’s a link between smacking and domestic violence."
"It’s a beating – another adult wouldn’t be able to hit an adult, but an adult’s allowed to hit a child."
Why NICCY thinks ‘Physical Punishment’ is a priority area
Physical punishment of children in the home has been subject to recent debate. In the UK Parliament hitting children as a physical punishment was outlawed in certain circumstances but not banned completely.
In June 2006 the Government put new a new law before Parliament to bring the law in Northern Ireland 'into line' with the law in England and Wales. This means that a child can be smacked as long as the smack does not leave a mark or cause lasting damage to the child.
A lot of organisations are unhappy with this, including NICCY. We told the Government we were unhappy with this. You can also find a joint statement from all four UK children's commissioners here.
When the Government decided to press ahead NICCY decided to take legal action. This was started on September 4th, 2006, when we launched an application to have a judicial review heard on the Government's actions.
Some of the background includes:
In 2004 there was a consultation carried out in Northern Ireland by the Office for Law Reform that looked at the issues surrounding physical punishment.
The consultation looked at what was defined as reasonable chastisement in Northern Ireland and attracted more than 1,700 responses.
The responses showed that there was a considerable divide between those that thought smacking should be allowed where no permanent harm was done (for example, no mark was left on the child) and those that thought there should be a total ban on smacking.
The divide, according to the Office of Law Reform (OLR), is between individuals and organisations and health professionals.
The Office of Law Reform suggested that the level of people who were involved in the debate might have been affected by organised campaigns from organisations.
Children and young people involved in the OLR research backed the use of alternative means of punishment, but also called on the Government to help parents find other ways of disciplining children.
As well as the challenge to the Government in the courts, NICCY is also carrying out research into physical punishment
You can find more information at: Office of Law Reform – Physical Punishment in the Home – Thinking About the Issues, Looking at the Evidence