Smacking law will bring Wales in line with other nations
A LABOUR AM who for years has campaigned against the physical punishment of children says she hopes to bring Wales in line with 52 other countries that have already outlawed the practice.
Julie Morgan, who represents Cardiff North, said she was hopeful a defence of “reasonable punishment” in cases where parents are accused of assaulting their children would be removed by next year.
The Welsh Government has committed to introduce the so-called “smacking ban” as part of its current legislative programme.
Earlier this week, a group calling itself Be Reasonable launched a campaign against the proposed change in the law, accusing the Welsh Government of wanting to criminalise parents for disciplining their children.
It released opinion poll findings that suggested a majority of people wanted the law to stay as it is.
But Ms Morgan pointed out that more than 50 countries around the world had outlawed physical punishment for children, with Sweden being the first in 1979. Ireland did so at the end of 2015.
She said: “This is a difficult issue and I don’t expect people to agree with me instantly. But I do think if there is in the law an excuse for people to use physical punishment against their children, that they can put forward a defence, it completely undermines all these nurturing messages the Welsh Government wants to give about bringing children up and giving them the best opportunities and a loving environment.”
Ms Morgan said she thought there had been cultural change: “Not so many parents are hitting their children, and I think that’s because they have different attitudes. In fact, a lot of people think it’s illegal at the moment to hit children.
“This seems to me an obvious step that any government that wants the best for its children should take. And it’s happening all over the world.”
A briefing paper produced by the campaign group Children Are Unbeatable! says: “Children are now the only group in our society that can be legally hit or hurt. Pets have more protection.
“The Be Reasonable campaign is looking at the legal defence from a very odd perspective. There is no legal right to ‘reasonably punish’ a child or anyone else.
“The current legal situation is that if a child is assaulted a parent may use the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ and thereby avoid prosecution. This defence would not be open to them if they committed the same assault on another adult.
“This means that children currently have less protection than adults, and animals, under the law.”
The paper says that international human rights bodies have repeatedly pointed out the inadequacy of the defence of “reasonable punishment” and called on the UK Government to repeal this defence.
The Be Reasonable campaign is backed by two groups, the Family Educational Trust and the Christian Institute.
The Christian Institute’s website states: “We believe that the Bible is the supreme authority for all of life and we hold to the inerrancy of Scripture.”
The organisation is opposed to gay marriage and supported a couple who banned a gay couple from sharing a double bed in their Cornwall guest house and a Northern Ireland bakery which refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding.