Outlawing the beating of children

Dedicated to  Balica Romana George, Joy Millicent Blanchard, and Daniel John Blanchard .  Their father is charged for killing them. Their neighbours, on hearing one of the children asking "daddy, how you could do this to we?” did nothing because they thought their father was beating them (part of the supposedly healthy and happy family life of many Guyanese).

The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children is doing a global consultation to inform its strategic planning. Belize has become one of the countries in the Caribbean to outlaw the beating of children in schools. The Global Initiative is working on law reform in other Caribbean countries.


There have been recent conversations about the beating of children which continue to show how neighbours and others would ignore when children are in crisis. Recently, a young doctor told me that she will not fill out a police medical form for a child who had been beaten by her mother. The child had come into the hospital after a beating. The young doctor treated the child who had bruises and marks.  The doctor said her own mother used to beat her and she believes that children need licks sometimes, but not excessive. The young doctor did not believe the mother should be punished.

Ironically, some of the women and men involved in the work against intimate partner violence tend to be silent or even oppose any idea that children should not be beaten (using terms like 'excessive' and 'little spanking' or 'touching up' ) to decide on the violence. Many persons cite their religious beliefs as grounds for beating children.



Some of my answers to the GI questionnaire are shared here.


Purpose: To scan the political, economic, social, technological, legislative, cultural  environment in your country and in the Caribbean region, and identify forces and trends that may be opportunities or threats for speeding up progress of law reform to abolish corporal punishment of children. To help GI understand its context.



Political
Opportunities
During the consultations on the drafting of a new Education Bill, the ruling political party the People's Progressive party had indicated that as a party they were against corporal punishment of children. Another political party , the Alliance For Change had tabled a bill in 2006 to outlaw corporal punishment in schools. The new political partnership- A Partnership for National Unity - which is contesting elections includes the People's National Congress (PNC) and the Working People's Alliance (WPA). The PNC has not supported the outlawing of beating of children.  The  Working People's Alliance, some of whose  members and former members have called for the on corporal punishment. The Prime Ministerial Candidate for APNU, Dr Rupert Roopnarine is from the WPA and had signed the petition against corporal punishment in schools in 2006.

Threats
It would appear that apart from the Alliance for Change, the politicians believe that this is a strong 'cultural' issue and refuse to take this on beyond rhetoric and sharing personal views rather than deal with this at a policy level.
The political parties also rely on support of the religious groups, some of whom are avid supporters of beating children in the name of discipline. Some of the religious persons who have supported beating children are candidates in the political parties in the current elections.


Legislative
Opportunities
There is an Education Bill which is pending but has not been tabled. The drafts we have unofficially seen do not remove corporal punishment.

Guyana went through the Universal Periodic Review of its Human Rights obligations in 2010. One of the recommendations from the review is to outlaw corporal punishment. The next Government is expected to honour these commitments.

Threats
There are reports of beating within child care institutions run by the state and by private organisations. One mother who had her children removed by the state told me that she never beat her children, but they were beaten in the orphanage to which the Child Protection Agency removed them. The Child Protection Officers I have heard talking about the beating of children do not talk about stopping the beating. One young person told me he heard one representative of the agency on television saying it was okay to spank now and then. The phrase 'not excessive' seems to be used quite often.

Some people like to say that not beating children is a “white people thing” and therefore it is not Guyanese/Caribbean. The fact that Guyana and the Caribbean have histories of violence in slavery , indentureship and colonialism and refused to overturn these laws



Social & Cultural (because I cannot distinguish between the two sometimes)
Opportunities
In some small spaces, people are talking and are becoming aware, and are are willing to change. There was a short project in 2008 “Removing Corporal Punishment from Schools : Integrating Partner Efforts”  That project highlighted the dilemmas. Another project, the Pickney Project which was organised by Help & Shelter also showed how persons were willing to change their behaviour if they were willing to be educated and to be open to the change.

Threats
Some religious organisations still try to enforce the beating children and I believe that many of the teachers in the education system hold deeply religious views which support the beating of children.

 There is fear of anarchy in the schools and the home without beating – that “we gun get like America where the children have no respect for elders and there is violence”, etc, etc).  This is an extract taken from  a recent article in Kaieteur News around a vigil against domestic violence.

“As far as the law for not beating your children is concerned, many were against it as they believe some children need to be taught a good lesson.
“People should come on this park and see how lawless them young people getting on. I gon beat me daughter bad if I see she behaving like that,” noted one woman.
Many argued that children will now hide behind these laws and do bad things, adding that it is not fair that parents cannot discipline their children the way they want to and then when they do wrong things parents are the ones who will have to face the law.
The majority of parents expressed that they believe that talking to some children don’t help until you whip them and then “talk” to them about another whipping if they repeat the mistake.”

(It is no surpise that some of the young people who passed at the vigil also felt that intimate partner violence was justified in some instances.  )


The Inter Religious Organisation in Guyana in Guyana signed on to the 2006 World Assembly of  Religions statement which called for religious bodies to confront violence against children. Apparently, the IRO  decided not to get involved in following up in Guyana since they apparently felt that it was a contentious issue . Some members of the IRO have done their own work against beating children. Help & Shelter's Pickney Project showed how it was possible for many faith based leaders to think again about beating children and using scripture to justify that violence.





Threats


Step 2
1)Looking at what you have written above, identify those things that are most significant for your current and future work to abolish corporal punishment of children in your country/the region. Highlight them.

1.Ban corporal punishment in schools
2.Keep educating parents, teachers, caregivers about non-violent forms of discipline.
3.Keep educating children and others about rights and responsibilities and the consequences of inappropriate behaviour.


2)Briefly - what do you/does your organization need to do, to make use of the opportunities you have identified?

I am writing as an individual. The activism has to be sustained at different levels – to celebrate the successes.



2) What are the threats facing GI in the next 3 years?

I do not have enough information but I could imagine local religious leaders and others who like beating children would say that GI is foreign and imperialist in trying to impose 'foreign values' etc.

Step 4

Please give us as much information as you can on the following questions.

1)What is the problem you are addressing in your work in relation to the elimination of corporal punishment?
That parents and teachers want to beat children and that there is little scope to educate parents about non-abusive parenting and teaching.

What is the difference you want to make?
To be part of the movement which rejects violence against children, much like the work being done about intimate partner violence .. where there is no justification anymore.

2)What is the one major obstacle to your work being successful?

The global, regional , national increase in violence and the use of violence to deal with problems and issues. Many young people and children themselves see violence as a solution to problems.

The political support to ensure that the work is done especially in the national institutions, and funding is needed to support the work.

3)What do you consider is the one major factor stopping law reform in your country?
Belief in challenging cultural issues would cause uproar, and the inability to fund the changes needed . Violence is seen to work because it is quick and cheap though our society has become more violent.

4)What factors/combination of factors do you consider are necessary to make a breakthrough on law reform in your country/the region?

Cultural change, limiting the influence of the religious ideas which support violence against children

5)When are the next parliamentary elections in your country?
November 2011

6)Are there any existing national or regional campaigns to hasten law reform?
No

7)Are any laws/policies relating to children due to be revised in the coming months/2 years, where elimination of corporal punishment could be integrated?

I am not sure of any.

8)Who are the people to lobby to push for law reform, who would do so from a position of influence and knowledge about what’s involved in law reform?


Government members of parliament.

And finally

9) What is really important for your current and future work?
To keep the knowledge sharing going on and to celebrate the small victories.

10) What is too serious to ignore?
The lack of political will and support, the influence of the religious bodies who believe children should be beaten, Funding issues.. work for the protection of the children is limited and it should be tied to other goals and mechanisms for peace and development.