TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

France becomes latest country to ban spanking

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, January 5, 2017

Share This Article

Change Size

France becomes latest country to ban spanking According to the new regulation, all parents are banned from "any cruel, degrading or humiliating punishment, including physical violence". (Shutterstock/File)

P

arents in most European countries are formally banned from punishing their children by spanking them. As reported by kompas.com, France became the 52nd country to implement the regulation in late December 2016.

According to the new regulation, all parents are banned from "any cruel, degrading or humiliating punishment, including physical violence". But the ban is said to be under the civil law, which means those who breach it will not be criminally charged. 

"This law is a very strong symbolic regulation so that parents understand that all violence act will negatively affect the children," said Dr. Gilles Lazimi who actively campaigning the anti-spanking regulation in France. 

(Read also: Teachers learn hard lessons from physical punishment)

Most European countries have already banned parents from disciplining their children through spanking. Some that do not implement this law, according to the Telegraph, are UK, Italy, Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Some recent studies found the dangerous effects of spanking a child. An analytic study that was conducted for 50 years stated that children who often got spanked would instead disobey their parents, be at risk of developing mental issues and tended to show antisocial and assaultive behavior. In other words, this kind of punishment will only make things worse for the parents. (kes)

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.