Caribbean culture and households are familiar with the term ‘licks’ and the discipline of children but in other parts of the world, ‘physical discipline is now under the scrutiny of lawmakers.
Physical abuse against minors, be it light, moderate or severe, and whose purpose is to cause a certain degree of pain or discomfort, constitutes corporal punishment and cruel and degrading treatment for the being Human, determined this Wednesday the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) of Mexico.
In addition, he pointed out that any punishment that seeks to belittle, humiliate, denigrate, threaten, scare or ridicule, are actions that go in the same direction.
Through a statement, the First Chamber of the SCJN, through a thesis, considered that “this is incompatible with the dignity and rights of minors to their personal integrity and their healthy integral development.”
Therefore, he said that “the eradication of corporal punishment and cruel and degrading treatment are an urgent need in our society, which links to not justifying such behaviors as a corrective or disciplinary method for children, in any setting.”
For this, the First Chamber evoked, among other laws, the fourth article of the Mexican Constitution “that recognizes the right of children to a healthy integral development.”
In keeping with this, the General Law on the Rights of Girls, Boys and Adolescents, in article 13, dictates the rights of minors “to live in conditions of well-being and a healthy integral development, as well as to live a free life. of violence and personal integrity “.
In addition, the First Chamber warned about the problem of corporal punishment and the cruel and degrading treatment of girls, boys and adolescents, particularly in Mexico, where it has historically been normalized and accepted both in the family spheres and in childhood education and readjustment.
He said that this type of behavior “has had direct consequences in the way of assimilating the violence that is experienced in this country, so the need for eradication as forms of discipline is urgent.”
According to different organizations, in Mexico at least 60% of those under 14 years of age have received physical or psychological punishment at some time and in 8 out of 10 cases of child abuse those responsible are the mother or father.
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