GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (CMC):
AMID A growing international campaign to protect the rights of children, Caribbean countries are coming under increased pressure to abolish flogging and other forms of corporal punishment.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), which is leading the fight against corporal punishment, wants international governments to remove all provisions from laws that allow for such physical chastisement and to "explicitly prohibit" corporal punishment by law in the family, schools and other institutions.
CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE
UNICEF, at its just concluded 36th session of the Committee on the Rights of Child, said it was also urging governments to continue the constructive dialogue with political leaders and the judiciary.
It also called on them to "continue to strengthen public education campaigns among community leaders, school administrators and parents about the negative consequences of corporal punishment of children".
UNICEF also wants the authorities to "undertake studies on domestic violence, ill-treatment and abuse of children, including sexual abuse within the family in order to adopt effective policies and programmes to combat all forms of abuse".
DOMESTIC LEGISLATION
With specific reference to Guyana, UNICEF said it was concerned about the fact that corporal punishment was still widely practised in the family, schools, and in institutions, and that domestic legislation does not prohibit its use.
In the case of Dominica, the UN body said it was recommending that Roseau "increase its efforts to ensure implementation of existing laws guaranteeing the principle of non-discrimination and to adopt a proactive and comprehensive strategy to eliminate discrimination on any grounds and against all vulnerable groups".
"Further, the Committee recommended that the state continues to strengthen efforts to combat discriminatory attitudes towards children with disabilities and to promote their participation in all aspects of social and cultural life."
TEACHER TRAINING
It also wants the governments to "formulate a strategy which would include appropriate teacher training to ensure that all children with disabilities had access to education, and wherever possible that they were integrated into the mainstream education system."
Nudged by UNICEF, the National Commission on the Rights of the Child in Guyana recently launched a secret signature campaign among schools asking children to decide whether beatings should continue.
While parents and the many Parent-Teacher Associations say they were not consulted on the campaign, the Commission under the patronage of First Lady Varshnie Jagdeo will next week hold a two-day 'Discipline Without Beating' workshop in the capital.
The objective of the workshop is to "explore alternatives to beating in homes and schools; reflect on the escalating violence in society and consider ways in which such violence could be reduced; and, launch a campaign to abolish beating in schools."
It comes after President Bharrat Jagdeo indicated a few years ago that while he personally opposes corporal punishment, "a large section of the population believes it was the correct thing to do to maintain discipline in schools".
Jagdeo said he favours solutions "from Guyanese working together and sharing their own views".
A UNICEF delegation recently visited Guyana and before leaving announced that it had received a commitment from the Government regarding the introduction of legislation to abolish corporal punishment.
Mike McCormack, head of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), is fully supportive of the initiatives to outlaw corporal punishment, describing the rod as "a symbol of power, not authority".
He says the practice of beating children, as a means of instilling discipline, is "rooted in an outmoded concept of the child (that he/she) is always abusive and always wrong".
McCormick said beating only imparts, "fear and suffering (which) do not shape the character" of the child.
"(Beating) is an indication of a level of failure and should never be an option (to parents and educators) and should be taken off the books altogether," he argues.
But Robert Corbin, the leader of the main opposition People's National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), believes it would be difficult to completely abolish the practice in this South American Caribbean state.
"Corporal punishment cannot be totally abolished and legislated against in this country. It has its bearings in religious and other beliefs and one has to take into account the cultural patterns and the views of the religious community," he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
He says the breakdown in society has contributed to the indiscipline now affecting the school system.
"When one looks at the level of the breakdown of discipline in the homes and schools and what happens when one liberates the society I would not personally not be in favour of legislating against the rights of parents and institutions to exercise certain disciplinary measures in the homes and some level of discipline in the schools," he said.
In the meantime, another Caribbean state, Trinidad and Tobago, is reviewing its decision to abolish flogging in schools.
Last year, education authorities in the twin-island republic appointed a six-member team "to devise a plan of action on a report which has called for the reinstatement of corporal punishment in schools.
The report, which came in the wake of rising indiscipline in schools, said that students were now likely to engage in a number of illegal activities as well as getting into trouble with the police.
