A step closer to a ban on smacking

The Connexion 2 July 2016
Family First Comment: This is interesting. In France, they’re thinking about banning smacking – BUT…
“The measure… is seen as symbolic. The ban comes with NO criminal penalties, but it ‘sets a clear principle, which is intended to be repeated to fathers and mothers, and inform their future behaviour’.”

FRANCE has moved a step closer to an outright ban on smacking after MPs voted in favour of an amendment prohibiting ‘the use of physical violence’ against children.
The amendment to the Equality and Citizenship bill, adopted on Friday, included a clarification of parental authority in the Civil Code that specifically excludes ‘any cruel, degrading or humiliating act, including any use of physical violence’.
The measure, which must be approved by the Senate before it becomes law, is seen as symbolic. The ban comes with no criminal penalties, but it ‘sets a clear principle, which is intended to be repeated to fathers and mothers, and inform their future behaviour’, said MPs Marie-Anne Chapdelaine, François-Michel Lambert and Edith Gueugneau, who proposed the amendment.
Minister for Families, Laurence Rossignol, said she welcomed the amendment as an ‘indispensable tool for the prevention of child abuse’.
Last year, the Council of Europe warned that France is violating the European social charter because French law does not prohibit parents and others from corporal punishment of children in a sufficiently clear manner.
Earlier this year, the government sent a 16-page leaflet to all couples who were expecting a baby offering advice on parenting that warned against the use of corporal punishment.
http://www.connexionfrance.com/france-mps-ban-smacking-corporal-punishment-view-article.html