Childhood free from corporal punishment – changing law and practice

“Only 5.5% of the world’s children live in countries where they are completely protected in law from all forms of corporal punishment.”

This is a special progress report prepared for the high-level conference hosted by Sweden’s Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Stockholm, June 2014, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the CRC and the 35th anniversary of Sweden’s pioneering ban on all corporal punishment of children.

An overview is provided on the progress and delay in prohibiting all corporal punishment of children on a global scale. This report also highlights how international human rights law puts an obligation on states, which have ratified various human rights instruments, to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment of children.

State by state information is also given on if or if not corporal punishment of children is banned (and to what extent) in various social settings.