© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
A United Nations committee has ruled Canada should
bar parents from spanking their children.
As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, Canada is obligated to make periodic appearances before the
U.N.'s Committee on Rights of the Child, which said the country should "adopt
legislation to remove the existing authorization of the use of 'reasonable
force' in disciplining children," the National Post reported.
The U.N. body says Canada should "explicitly prohibit all forms of violence
against children, however light, within the family, in schools and in other
institutions where children might be placed."
The ruling cannot supersede national law, the Post said, but Ottawa wants
to comply with the regulations to bolster the U.N.'s attempt to encourage
international norms.
The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have not signed
the convention, which routinely tells members appearing before its committee
to pass laws banning spanking.
"This ruling is another example of the U.N. infringing on our own national
concerns," said John-Henry Westen, spokesman for LifeSiteNews.com, an online monitor of
family values, according to the National Post.
"When a child is young and cannot understand, a tap on the hand is
essential for training," he said. "We have a wood-burning stove that gets very
hot. It's ridiculous that I can't save my child from burning himself by
tapping his hand away from it."
However, a member of the committee responsible for communicating with
Canada argued, if the child "puts his hand on a hot oven, he will be burnt and
he will not do it again."
The Post said Moushira Khattab of Egypt admitted she lightly disciplined
her own two children when they were young, but says now she knows better.
"There are other means," she said. "Children are very smart, and even when
they are as young as two or three months old, they will understand if you have
a tough look, or change the tone of your voice, or turn away from them."
A poll published yesterday showed Canadians evenly split on the question of
whether parents should be allowed to spank their children, the Canadian paper
said. Overall, according to the survey, Canadians are against the use of
corporal punishment by teachers.
The Supreme Court of Canada also is considering a petition to repeal a
federal law that lets parents, teachers or guardians apply "reasonable force"
to discipline a minor.
At a hearing June 6, the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the
Law argued the federal law violates the right of all Canadians to be treated
equally.
"If you hit an adult, it is an assault, but if you hit a child in the
context of discipline, it is justified under our current law," said Cheryl
Milne, the lawyer who argued the case, according to the Post. "The U.N.
committee ... agrees with that very strongly – that countries should be
prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment of children."
The Post said groups that regard themselves as children's rights advocates
likely will ratchet up their calls for stricter laws against spanking.
The Canadian government seemed to play both sides of the issue.
"While the government does not support spanking of children, it is also
against the criminalization of parents for lightly disciplining their kids,"
said Chris Girouard, spokesman for the Department of Justice, according to the
Post. "It's whatever is in the child's best interests."
The paper said the ruling came after 18 experts of the Committee on Rights
of the Child questioned a Canadian delegation of experts and government
officials in Geneva.
The committee also urged Canada to do more about helping aboriginal
children, who suffer disproportionately high suicide and drug abuse rates, and
to provide affordable child care for working families across the country.