Nepal Vows to End Corporal Punishment against Children

The eight year journey to prohibition culminates in the passing of the Children Act 2075 which grants all Nepali children protection against this form of physical and emotional abuse.

Save the Children with several other organisations including local civil society, and children and youth groups, persistently advocated for this legal change.

Physical and humiliating punishment is a violation of children’s human rights to physical integrity, human dignity and equal protection under the law. The legality of physical and humiliating punishment of children is a highly symbolic reflection of their low status in society and implies a sense of ownership and control of the victim by the perpetrator. The prohibition of physical and humiliating punishment of children in law is a necessary first step towards ending the practice and sending a clear signal that violence against children is not acceptable. World leaders have promised to fulfil the right that children have to live free from all forms of violence– a cornerstone of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG target 16.2.

In 2011, UNICEF published the results of the largest cross-national attempt to measure the prevalence of corporal punishment. It found, from household surveys in 33 countries, that three in four children aged 2 – 14 were being subjected to some kind of violent discipline.