Call for spanking to be criminalised

20 November 2007

BRUSSELS – MP for the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V) Mia De Schamphelaere wants Belgium to make spanking children a crime. De Schamphelaere spoke to this effect at the Antwerp Central Station on Monday where the Bond Zonder Naam (Movement without a Name) marked UN Universal Children’s Day.

“Physical violence in school or day care is not tolerated. That should also be the case in the family sphere. Hitting children, even as discipline, should therefore be made a crime,” she said.

“My aim with this initiative is not to put hordes of parents behind bars,” stressed De Schamphelaere. “But we should strive to bring about a change in mentality. This ban had a clear effect in Scandinavia. The number of cases of child abuse has declined dramatically and without many parents being dragged to court.”

Children’s rights commissioner Ankie Vandekerckhove has been urging that spanking children be made a crime for some time now.

Subject: Belgian news