Hypocrisy: Britain must ban smacking to protect human rights, says United Nations

Britain must ban SMACKING to protect human rights, say United Nations experts from Uganda, Algeria and Egypt
MailOnline 23 July 2015
UN human rights officials sparked fury tonight by telling parents they should not smack their children.

A committee including representatives from Uganda, Algeria and Egypt said reasonable punishment laws were wrong and breached children’s human rights

They demanded that all smacking be ‘fully outlawed in the home’ in a report attacking Britain’s compliance with human rights standards.

Currently parents are allowed to discipline children with a short smack as long as it complies with the ‘reasonable chastisement’ defence. Anything which leaves a bruise or other serious mark is banned.

The committee also condemned Britain for not giving prisoners the right to vote, and attacked Tory plans to replace Labour’s Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.

In a report which will enrage ministers, they attacked legal aid cuts, counter-terrorism laws and said the age of criminal responsibility was too high at 10.

They said: ‘The Committee remains concerned that corporal punishment is still not fully outlawed in the home and certain educational and alternative care facilities in the United Kingdom and in almost all British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

‘It is further concerned about the lack of explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in the home and the existing legal defences of ‘reasonable punishment’ in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or ‘justifiable assault’ in Scotland.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3172405/Britain-ban-SMACKING-protect-human-rights-say-United-Nations-experts-Uganda-Algeria-Egypt.html