The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) yesterday called on government to speed up legal changes to outlaw spanking children.
The SAHRC made the call when handing down an order to the Joshua Generation Church (JGC) to change its stance on corporal punishment in the home within 30 days.
Although corporal punishment has been banned in schools since 1996, banning it in the home has been under debate for more than a decade.
The SAHRC’s recommendation for a total ban on corporal punishment follows a complaint lodged with the commission by Adriaan and Hannah Mostert, Carol Bower and Sonke Gender Justice.
“The complainants objected to a parenting manual published by the Joshua Generation Church ‚ which used four of its 39 pages to describe the length and thickness of the rod which parents should use in training up children as young as one-year-old‚” the commission said in a statement.
Furthermore, it states, “Parents and caregivers still have the right to claim ‘reasonable chastisement’ as a defence against having assaulted their child”.
There are a number of reasons why corporal punishment in all spaces should be prohibited‚ the SAHRC said, including:
- South Africa has ratified a number of international and regional human rights treaties that provide for the protection of all citizens‚ including children‚ from assault;
- A growing body of wide-ranging‚ peer- reviewed research that has established unequivocally that even the ‘loving little smacks’ result in a host of negative impacts on social‚ cognitive‚ behavioural and intellectual development.
Being exposed to violence as a child has been shown to have a significant impact on the likelihood they will use violence as an adult;
- All adults in South Africa are protected from assault‚ no matter how ‘minor’; children, in fact, require greater protection due to their smaller stature ...
The commission report states that the JGC must “provide a written undertaking that it will, within 30 days, desist from advocating corporal punishment as a means of disciplining children ...”
It also adjures church members involved in presenting its parenting course to take a course in positive‚ non-violent discipline of children‚ facilitated by the SAHRC, within six months from date of the report. — Tiso Black Star Group Digital
SAHRC seeks ban on spanking
The SAHRC made the call when handing down an order to the Joshua Generation Church (JGC) to change its stance on corporal punishment in the home within 30 days.
Although corporal punishment has been banned in schools since 1996, banning it in the home has been under debate for more than a decade.
The SAHRC’s recommendation for a total ban on corporal punishment follows a complaint lodged with the commission by Adriaan and Hannah Mostert, Carol Bower and Sonke Gender Justice.
“The complainants objected to a parenting manual published by the Joshua Generation Church ‚ which used four of its 39 pages to describe the length and thickness of the rod which parents should use in training up children as young as one-year-old‚” the commission said in a statement.
Furthermore, it states, “Parents and caregivers still have the right to claim ‘reasonable chastisement’ as a defence against having assaulted their child”.
There are a number of reasons why corporal punishment in all spaces should be prohibited‚ the SAHRC said, including:
Being exposed to violence as a child has been shown to have a significant impact on the likelihood they will use violence as an adult;
The commission report states that the JGC must “provide a written undertaking that it will, within 30 days, desist from advocating corporal punishment as a means of disciplining children ...”
It also adjures church members involved in presenting its parenting course to take a course in positive‚ non-violent discipline of children‚ facilitated by the SAHRC, within six months from date of the report. — Tiso Black Star Group Digital
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