Corporal punishment carries ‘multiple risks’ to children’s health, says WHO | Global development

The World Health Organization has declared corporal punishment a global public health problem which affects children’s physical and mental well-being and can lead to criminal behavior.

A new report revealed that in 49 low and intermediate income countries, children exposed to body punishment – defined as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause a certain degree of pain or discomfort, as light” – were 24% less likely to be on the development path than children who were not.

Globally, around 1.2 billion children are subject to body punishment each year. During the last month, 17% of all children exposed to body punishment underwent serious shapes – such as being touched on the head, face or ears, or hit hard and repeatedly, said the report.

“There are now overwhelming scientific evidence that body punishment has multiple health risks of children,” said Etienne Krug, director of the WHO Health Department, Promotion and Prevention. “It offers no advantage to the behavior, development or well-being of children and no advantage for parents or companies either.

“Body punishments are a global public health problem – it is time to put an end to this harmful practice to ensure that children thrive at home and at school.”

Children exposed to corporal punishment are more likely to have anxiety, depression, low self -esteem and emotional instability, which continue in adulthood and can cause alcohol and drug use, violent behavior and suicide.

Among children aged two to 14 years, the self -development rates of parents and caregivers declared body punishment in the last month varying by 30% in Kazakhstan and 32% in Ukraine, 63% in Serbia, 64% in Sierra Leone and 77% in Togo.

In Africa and Central America, 70% of children have undergone school punishment in their lives, according to the report. Lower rates have been found in the Western Pacific region, with a lifetime prevalence of around 25%. In all regions, body punishments were common at primary and secondary levels.

Body punishments are often accompanied by a psychological punishment, which implies a behavior which lowers, humiliates, scares or ridicules a child. The common acceptance of bodily punishment has been anchored in law, religion and cultural traditions in many societies.

Bryanna Mariñas, 23, lawyer and researcher of the Philippines and member of the world’s first world movement to end violence against children, said: “Body punishments are the most common form of violence against children, but he is barely discussed … coming from the Philippines, I know how deeply he is, [but] What is normalized is not always what is right. »Mariñas made a film featuring the voices of the survivors of violence to raise awareness of the impact it has.

Today, 68 states out of 193 have a full ban on body punishment; The first country to be banned was Sweden in 1979. In the United Kingdom, it was prohibited in Scotland and Wales, but is still authorized in England and Northern Ireland.