66th state party to prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings

CPCR and CRC Coalitions Thailand invite you to join together in campaigning for Thailand to be 66th state party to prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings.

 

Corporal punishment creates the long-term effects of trauma on children such as abnormal behavior, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, low self-esteem, self-harm, suicidal behavior, alcoholism, drug addicted and emotional instability. Later, when they grow up, they would have intellectual disability, emotional immaturity and rage. If parents or other caregivers are aware of this issue, they would no longer use corporal punishment as a mean of discipline.

 

Currently, there are 65 countries that has achieved full prohibition of punishment of children. All 65 state parties have reviewed their law and made sure that their children are safe and have a right to legal protection from corporal punishment.

 

In 2012, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child proposed Thailand to establish a law that expressly prohibits corporal punishment of children in the home and the child care center, including any discipline punishment.

 

However, the Civil and Commercial Law Code of Thailand, section 1567: Rights of Parental Control, states that a person exercising parental power (natural guardian) has the right (2) to punish the child in a reasonable manner for disciplinary purposes. Therefore, to clarity that effective methods of child discipline will be a nonviolence method, the Subcommittee has improved all concerned children’s laws in accordance with a standard of the Constitution and the Convention on the Rights of the Children. Also, the Department of Children and Youth has proposed a draft of the amendment of the section 1567 (2). The amended section would be stated that parents and other caregivers of children can discipline their child by using a reasonable method which is without any form of violence, both physically and mentally or any other similar methods. The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security has referred this subject to the Ministry of Justice to proceed the next steps of law amendment.

 

On 13 November, CPCR and CRC Coalition Thailand organizes the academic forum of ‘Ending all forms of Corporal Punishment of Children and Lobbying the amendment of the Civil and Commercial Code, Section 1567(2)’. CPCR invites Pol. Col. Thawee Sodsong, the Minister of Justice, to share his work on proceeding the law amendment which is supported by both government and opposition members of the House of Representatives. In the meantime, it cannot deny that the law amendment would take a lot of time. There is another important task for all child development organization which is to advocate for positive parenting for parents and other caregivers of children.