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Scarred for life

Jul 19,2017 - Last updated at Jul 19,2017

The National Council for Family Affairs has recently organised a timely meeting in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF Jordan on ways and means to combat the perpetration of violence against children and raise awareness on how to improve protection of children from abuse, especially in the form of corporal punishment.

At the event, Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab said his ministry has made great strides in combating child abuse, in line with binding international norms.

UNICEF Deputy Representative to Jordan Ettie Higgins acknowledged that Jordan has succeeded in making "striking achievements" to protect children from violence since it had ratified that Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, describing the Kingdom as a regional pioneer in working to protect children.

Despite these achievements and efforts, child abuse still persists in the country at an alarming rate. 

Recent statistics in the Jordan Population and Family Health Survey revealed that "two out of three children in Jordan were subjected to one form of physical punishment or another at the hands of their parents or other adults". 

Sheyyab acknowledged that there is a culture in the country that tolerates some forms of corporal punishment, but he stressed that this has to change.

The culprit could be the existing legislation.

Article 62 of the Penal Code permits "forms of disciplinary actions against children as long as they do not cause harm or danger". 

This vague language has opened the door to certain forms of corporal punishment that many parents take for granted as legitimate and that they may, therefore, practise in their misguided traditional ways to punish their children for whatever reason.

Even if the language of the law is amended to make it clearer and precise, local cultural values will still tolerate a certain degree of corporal punishment on the misguided premise that parents know what is best for their children and that a certain degree of violence against their children would do them good.

This mindset must change, not only by law, but also by raising awareness that inflicting harm on children — whether physical, psychological or emotional — would scar them for life.

 

The recent meeting on this issue is, therefore, a step in the right direction, as long as there is a follow-up on the decisions and measures adopted.

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