We must stop making light of violence towards young people, children and babies by talking about smacking.
The issue here is that young citizens have less protection under the law than adults. If one adult taps another, they might go to the police, but will probably be told off for wasting police time. If an adult hits and marks another with a belt, they would rightly get into serious trouble. Not so parents necessarily. The law is on their side.
Those who say the situation is not that bad should reflect that up to two children die every week in the UK as a result of abuse and neglect in the family home. These are usually not reported as murders in our media. Yet we hear endless accounts of the rare cases of murder of children by strangers.
The normality of violence
Meanwhile, violence in the home, in our streets and supermarkets is an everyday occurrence. According to the Children's Rights Alliance for England's State of Children's Rights in England report from last year, 52 per cent of one-year-olds are hit at least once a week by their parents. A quarter of children are hit with an implement and more than a third punished "severely". A public inquiry into the torture and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie found that professionals repeatedly turned away from the obvious early signs that the child was being hit.
Within two months of the inquiry opening, the Government said it would not reform the law on punishment relating to parents and carers. In November 2001, Alan Milburn, health minister, said the Government wanted to avoid "heavy-handed intrusion into family life". Now there's a bad pun.
At the same time, the Government promotes zero tolerance of domestic violence between adults. The Climbie inquiry was the 50th major inquiry into a child's death in 30 years.
Carolyne Willow's book, It Hurts You Inside, gave children the chance to tell their side of the story. Here, the experts on being hit by adults get straight to the point: "A smack is parents trying to hit you, but instead of calling it a hit they call it a smack,"explains one.
The Government's refusal to make all violence against children and babies illegal has been criticised by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And last November, John Denham, the Government's very own minister for children and young people, said: "The law allows only what is reasonable in terms of the physical punishment of children: it does not permit child abuse." But it has allowed the use of the belt, bleeding and bruising.
Can you imagine the minister for women standing up in the House of Commons and intoning gravely: "The law allows only what is reasonable in terms of the physical chastisement of women." They would be out of their job by the end of the day. That sort of outrageous opinion went out of fashion 100 years ago. Yet it is still very much in fashion for the treatment of the most vulnerable members of our community.
But just banning violence toward children and babies is not enough. We need a strong campaign that helps support parents. The Government is frightened of adult reaction. But perhaps it is time it took a more positive and determined stand in protecting children in the home and forging positive public attitudes to children and young people.
Sweden leads the way
Ten countries have already banned hitting children: the first was Sweden in 1979, when 80 per cent of adults said it was sometimes necessary to smack a "naughty" child, agreeing with similar attitudes in the UK today.
In the 1960s, 90 per cent of mothers in Sweden had used physical punishment on their pre-school children. But by 1994, only 33 per cent of 13 to 15-year-olds reported having been physically punished as a child and then usually only in the mildest form. In the ten years following the ban, not one child died as a result of parental physical abuse.
The international committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child has said it "deeply regrets" the UK's decision to retain the defence of "reasonable chastisement" and continues to urge its removal and the promotion of positive, non-violent forms of discipline. There really is no excuse for continuing in this way.
KEY MESSAGES FROM THE NSPCC - Being a parent is tough. But hitting children must stop. FULL STOP - Smacking equals hitting, and hitting is wrong in all settings - Hitting children hurts - physically and emotionally - Parents hit children when they are angry or frustrated and most feel bad about it afterwards - We want to take the pain out of parenting - for children and adults alike. There should be proper support for parents - Stop, think about the consequences and don't lash out in anger - There are better, safer and more effective ways to discipline children
CHILDREN ARE UNBEATABLE
The National Youth Agency is a member of the Children are Unbeatable campaign, which promotes the right of children and young people to be protected from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury and abuse as set out in Article 19 of the Convention on the Right of the Child.
"We must stop making light of violence towards children. Young citizens have less protection under the law than adults".
