UN committee rebukes NZ over child smacking

By HELEN TUNNAH, deputy political editor

The United Nations has called for the smacking of children to be outlawed in New Zealand.

The Geneva-based UN Committee on the Rights of the Child says it is deeply concerned that New Zealand has not changed a law which allows parents to use "reasonable" force against their children.

It recommends that all forms of corporal punishment against children be banned in this country.

The committee's report follows Prime Minister Helen Clark's publicly backing a change to the Crimes Act, which gives adults a legal defence if they strike a child.

But she and other supporters of a change, including Social Services Minister Steve Maharey, are not advocating that all smacking of children be banned.

"What needs to be changed in the law is the defence of reasonable force, which is available to someone who has hit a child and, of course, there are abusers who hide behind that," Helen Clark said late last month.

"That wouldn't mean that the police would go around charging everybody who lightly smacked a child, but it would take away any defence."

The Cabinet is not due to consider so-called "anti-smacking" laws again until the next election year and is expected to limit its review to Section 59 of the Crimes Act, which provides the legal defence for a person to argue force was "reasonable".

In the meantime, an $11 million, two-year education campaign on alternative disciplinary methods is to be undertaken.

New Zealand is the only country with legislation allowing parents to use physical force to discipline a child if it is deemed "reasonable".

The UN said in its just-released report that although it welcomed the education programme, parents should not be able to use reasonable force as a defence for hitting their children. It reminded New Zealand that the Convention on the Rights of the Child "requires the protection of children from all forms of violence, which includes corporal punishment in the family".

The committee recommended the state "amend legislation to prohibit corporal punishment in the home".

The UN committee criticised New Zealand on a number of fronts about the treatment of children.

It emphasised the need for the state to stop the rise in young people drinking alcohol, while saying the state had been too slow in setting up mechanisms to help children who were the victims of abuse or ill-treatment.

It also called for the legal age for criminal prosecution to be raised from 10 years to an internationally acceptable level.

And it said that despite poverty being evident, the state had conducted no studies on the impact on children of economic reforms in this country.

The Government has been divided over changes to the Crimes Act to outlaw the use of physical force.

Youth Affairs Minister John Tamihere is an outspoken proponent of education as the key to preventing abuse, but defends the right of a parent to "slap" a child.

But Mr Maharey, who backs a law change, said any new policy was not an attempt to ban smacking.

He said New Zealand should not be a country that accepted violence.

"What we're after is the excessive use of force."

Mr Maharey had not read the UN report.

What the UN says

Ban all corporal punishment against children.

Act to address the rise in alcohol drinking by adolescents.

Take measures to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies.

Raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, now 10 years.

Set a minimum age for young workers.

Expand services for child victims of abuse.

Improve youth suicide prevention.