In fact, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child saysnothing about the physical correction of children.
Article 19 simply requires that children must be protected from "allforms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse" - something thelaw already does in the UK.
In calling on every nation worldwide to ban smacking, the UN Committeeon the Rights of the Child has chosen to adopt an interpretation of theconvention that far exceeds what was in the minds of its originalframers, and goes way beyond what the majority of states would haveunderstood it to mean when they signed up to it.
Norman Wells, director, Family Education Trust
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