Children's rights violations: Parental corporal punishment under the microscope

Abstract

When Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) in 1990, all children within its borders became entitled to the protection of the rights set out in the Convention. Children, thus, became rights holders. More than just human rights holders, they became children's rights holders. The Convention is the first international instrument to address the protection of children from violence directly. Corporal punishment (CP) is increasingly recognised internationally as physical abuse and a violation of children's rights. However, CP in the home is still legal in all Australian jurisdictions even though it violates several of the rights protected by the Convention. This contribution will examine Articles 2, 3(1), 5, 16, 19(1), 24(3) and 37(a) of the Convention to outline how parental CP undermines the legally binding obligations of the Convention by violating the rights espoused by these provisions. This article then calls for CP to be outlawed by all state and territory governments to adhere to the aim of the Convention that because of children's unique vulnerabilities, all their rights need to be protected, respected and promoted by those who ratified the Convention.