NORTHERN Ireland’s Children’s Commissioner has repeated calls to ban smacking or “legal assault” of young people.
Scotland and Wales have already banned any physical punishment of children, but in Northern Ireland and England parents can still use the defence of “reasonable punishment” for hitting, slapping or smacking.
Chris Quinn has now joined with his counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill returns to Westminster on Thursday.
England’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, is calling for the “reasonable punishment” defence to be removed, while Mr Quinn has demanded an end to the defence in the NI Justice Bill.
“As children’s commissioners, we solidly believe that the current law that permits child physical punishment is severely out of touch with children’s rights and must be repealed,” he said.
Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Chris Quinn.
“It is deeply concerning that despite repeated efforts, children in Northern Ireland and England still do not have the same protection from assault as adults.”
He said the “legal inequality violates children and young people’s fundamental rights,” and that “violence of any kind, whether it is physical or psychological, should never be part of a child’s upbringing”.
Mr Quinn said he supported accessible services that help parents “build positive approaches” and urged the Stormont Executive to fund a Family and Parenting Strategy.
“My office and I insist that equal protection is included in the Justice Bill, which is currently at justice committee stage in the Assembly, as a matter of urgency,” he said.
Dame Rachel added: “There is no degree of violence that should ever be acceptable in a child’s life. We still see this happening far too often with horrific consequences.
“A child should never grow up living in fear, especially from the people who are supposed to love and care for them.”
The Westminster government has confirmed it will review evidence from Scotland and Wales before making a decision on the law, but the children’s commissioners say more urgent action is needed to remove the “outdated and morally repugnant” defence.
Mr Quinn added that evidence in Scotland and Wales showed that introducing equal protection has not resulted in parents being “unnecessarily criminalised,” but showed that children deserve to be treated with the same respect and protection as their parents and caregivers.
“To be clear, equal protection is not about punishing parents; it’s about protecting children and ensuring our laws are fair, consistent, and focused on the best interests of children. The time for change is now.”